Mildred Jean Thompson

Mildred Jean Thompson, an artist known for her vibrantly colored abstract paintings, died Sept. 1 of cancer. She was 68.

Ms. Thompson ' s works are in the permanent collections of New York City ' s Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the American Federation of the Arts and the Smithsonian Institution ' s National Collection of Fine Arts.

One of the few black American women trained in the European abstract expressionist style, Ms. Thompson also worked as a sculptor and printmaker, said a friend, Don Roman.

She once said she was kept out of some exhibits of African-American artists because she was told her work was not representative of black art.

" Art, for me, is an individual expression, very private and personal, like a religion, " she said in an interview. " My art is a physical manifestation of who I am and what I know. I am sure that because of the feelings of being black and being female, everything I touch is black and female anyway, a part of what I am doing. "

In 1989, she received an Artist Award from the Georgia Business Commission and in 1997 was honored with the Georgia State Governor ' s Award. She also was voted one of the Outstanding Black Women in America by the Smithsonian.

A native of Jacksonville, Fla., Ms. Thompson was an artist-in-residence at Spelman College in Atlanta, where she had lived since 1985, exhibiting there and abroad.