 |
 |
Virginia Murray Retrospective
Mrs. Murray’s daughter Joan Anthony of Woodbury and sons Andrew and Stephen Murray, owners of Murray Brothers Garage in Woodbury, organized the exhibition and loaned items from the family’s collection for this limited engagement at the Good News Gallery. “Virginia Murray (1916-2005), Retrospective: A Life in Paint and Clay” provides a rare exploration of Mrs. Murray’s professional development over the course of her adult lifetime, from her youthful studies at the Art Students’ League in New York City to her late-life rebirth as a ceramic artist. The Good News exhibition traces her evolution from still-life to cubist and abstract forms of expression in her oil paintings, and reveals her application of skills gained in other media to the ceramic works that became her exclusive focus in the last two decades of her life. Mrs. Murray drew early inspiration during five years at the Art Students’ League studying painting with Morris Kantor and Alexander Brook, drawing with George Grosz, and sculpture with William Zorach and Jose DeKreeft. A resident of Woodbury for 55 years, she concentrated as a young mother on oil paintings, selecting her own children, interiors and still-lifes as her primary subjects. “In her early painting, strong forms with dark edges dominated her canvases,” Mrs. Anthony observed. “Her still-lifes reveled in patterns and the complex interplay of color and shape. They contained organic forms of vessels and containers, fruits and flowers. “Over the four decades that she painted, Virginia experimented with cubism and semi-abstraction,” she said. “Her outdoor scenes usually included architectural elements, and often would include a complex arrangement such as a view out a window or objects painted in front of a landscape. Her forms and landscape elements were often broken into planes, or blocs of color, in a cubist style.” Mrs. Murray traveled extensively with her husband and children, to overseas destinations in Europe, Asia, South America and Africa. These travels provided a wealth of images and objects from foreign countries and cultures that further enriched and inspired her art. While she continued her works in oil, she also pursued studies in silk-screen prints and etchings with mentors including Karlin Streng, Sandy Corrigan and Ann Kresge at the Brookfield Craft Center. These studies led to the creation of a series of striking silk-screen prints inspired by Chinese bronze vessels, Peruvian symbols and motifs, and other traditional forms from Andean and West African cultures. From the age of 70 until her death at age 89 in 2005, Mrs. Murray’s artistic focus shifted to ceramic works in the majolica and raku styles. “Virginia became fascinated with ceramics and produced work entirely in this medium, using the skills acquired in painting, drawing and sculpture,” Mrs. Anthony noted. “She created bowls, plates, vessels – functional forms, but with breathtaking shapes, forms, colors and imagery. These majolica vessels exploded with bold and intricately painted scenes and with designs in stunningly bright or more muted colors. The large platters and vessels were a kind of canvas on which she painted.” She moved on to the raku style of ceramic art after studying the process at the Brookfield Craft Center. “Her work included sculpted figures as she became fascinated with the expressive figures of humans and animals which she found during her travels to Thailand, Indonesia and India,” Mrs. Anthony said. “Often, the figures were placed on shapes such as arks or shrine-like containers.” A member of the New Haven Paint and Clay Club for more than four decades, Mrs. Murray’s paintings, silk-screen prints and ceramics were frequently featured in the club’s juried shows and member exhibitions. Her works earned numerous prizes including the Sophie Persoff Cohen Prize, the Whitney House Art Gallery Prize and two Paint and Clay Club merit awards. Other professional memberships included the Silvermine Guild of Artists, the Connecticut Academy of Art and Connecticut Women Artists, which also hosted juried exhibitions of her works. Mrs. Murray’s paintings, prints and ceramics have been exhibited widely since 1960 at galleries and museums throughout Connecticut, as well as the Weyhe Gallery in New York City, the Stowe Gallery in Stowe, Vermont, and the Heron Point Gallery in Brunswick, Maine. Good News Cafe and Gallery previously has mounted two exhibitions of Mrs. Murray’s ceramic works, the first in 1999 and the most recent in 2002. Her ceramic art earned numerous exhibition awards including the Paint and Club Club Purchase Award, the West Hartford Art League Award, the Connecticut Women Artists Award, second prize at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, and best-in-show designations at Sharon Creative Arts and the RFD Gallery in Brookfield. |
| Litchfield County Times review - An article by Amy Mulvihill, published June 23, 2006 | |||||
| Waterbury Republican-American review - An article by Tracey O'Shaughnessy, published July 1, 2006 | |||||
|
“Hopkins Inn Barns” - “Hopkins Inn Barns” (1980), oil, by Virginia Murray | ||||
|
“Noah’s Ark” - “Noah’s Ark” (2002), raku ceramic, by Virginia Murray | ||||
