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Marcia Marcus
After graduating from N.Y.U. in 1947, I worked on my own, occasionally taking sculpture and printmaking courses and then attending Cooper Union. I exhibited in group shows and won an award for sculpture in 1950, and while primarily painting, until fairly recently I also did sculpture.
Usually I date my professional career from 1951 when a painting was included in a group show at the Roko Gallery in Greenwich Village. This was the result of a recommendation by a fellow student at Cooper Union.
In 1953 I met several artists involved with the Artists' Club and found the center of what was happening at that time. My work, of course, was affected by what I was seeing in galleries and studios and talking about with my peers and older, more advanced artists. At about the same time I studied with Edwin Dickinson at the League and it was a true turning point since he took me more seriously than I took myself.
Although I did not feel ready to call myself an artist until around the time of my first one person exhibit, I met many artists in the early fifties and started going to The Club and the Cedar Bar. In slide lectures I often refer to this as my graduate school and indeed it functioned in that capacity for me.
From 1951 I exhibited in group shows including a few Stable Annuals from 1953 and coop galleries like the Tanager. In 1957 I had my first solo show at the March Gallery, of which I was a charter member. During this period I earned money as a secretary, working part time or on a temporary basis. It was difficult financially but interfered less with painting. Both time and money were in short supply.
My lasting debt to abstract expressionism, I believe, is in a willingness to be open to intuitive use of paint and subject matter that goes far beyond the superficial attraction of a freer brush stroke. 
I was in an exhibit at the National Arts Club, chosen by twelve(?) Well known artists. I was one of Milton Avery's choices. This was in 1959 and together with a solo exhibit at the Delancey Street Musem led to my inclusion in 'Young Americans, 1960' at the Whitney Museum.
My work at the Whitney received a great deal of attention and led to an exhibit at the Alan Gallery the next year and my first trip to Europe. I travelled and painted, mainly in Florence and the next year received a Fullbright Award to France. I traveled to Greece before the commencement of the grant period and made short trips to many countries during and after, from June 1962 to September 1963. I was also able to produce many paintings and drawings, most of which were shown the following year at the Alan Gallery.
From that period til now I have shown more or less consistently in and out of New York and received several grants as listed below. From 1964 to the present I have also been visiting artist at many colleges and universities throughout the country. These positions have been varied, from a slide lecture to visits of a few days doing critiques to one year replacement jobs teaching painting and/or drawing.
In 1975 I had a one person exhibit at the Everson Museum covering about five years' work and was pleased to see even small paintings holding their own in what I can only call an intimidating space. In 1984 I had a 25 year retrospective at the Canton Art Institute.
In 1991 I received a National Endowment for the Arts in Painting. It has been a rewarding experience in every sense.