STEVE MAYO
(b. 1937, Brooklyn, NY; d. 2021, New York, NY)
Steve Mayo was a multidisciplinary artist who worked primarily as a printmaker and ceramicist. His work is held in numerous public and private collections. Ten of his clay relief works were acquired by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He created two permanently installed ceramic tile works for Public Art for Public Schools (New York City) and was awarded a residency at Greenwich House. As an art educator, Mayo taught at the Children’s Art Carnival, The Brownsville Anti-Poverty Program, Studio in a School, The Heschel School, and the Children’s Museum of Manhattan.
Steve’s vibrant prints were inspired by his love of jazz. “I always play jazz when I work. I live and breathe jazz. I express sounds with lines, forms, and complementary colors. I try not to use any straight lines. I want my lines to shake, quiver, shift, and shudder. I try to create movement.”
Children’s Art Carnival affiliation: Teaching Artist, 1970–1986/87
Drums 3, ca. 2013
Linoleum block print
22 × 30 in.
Courtesy of the artist's estate
Untitled, ca. 2013
Linoleum block print
30 × 22 in.
Courtesy of the artist's estate
Like many of his peers at the Carnival, music was frequently heard in Mayo’s classroom, reflecting both the Carnival’s teaching methods and his personal affinity for the art form. In these works, Mayo expresses his passion for jazz through prints that capture the vibrational force of music pulsating throughout the body, mind, and spirit. “I express sounds with lines, forms, and complementary colors,” the late artist once stated. “I try not to use any straight lines. I want my lines to shake, quiver, shift, and shudder. I try to create movement.”
As a multidisciplinary artist, Mayo taught painting, drawing, and ceramics at the Carnival, where, alongside sharing his passion for music and art with children, he found a space to contribute to the greater mission of uplifting historically underserved communities. As noted by robin holder, “He believed in what Betty [Blayton-Taylor] was trying to do,” she said. “And he believed…in making a contribution to the Harlem community, and dealing with our people in a way that had integrity and dignity and expert guidance and real compassionate care.”
Fellow teaching artist robin holder and Mayo—who met at the Carnival—were life partners from 1985 until his passing in 2021.
