statement

My drawings in graphite or colored pencil typically include one or more figures involved in an improbable action or working at some curious task. Many of the pieces in this series comment upon the act of seeing, the creative process or some aspect of our human experience.  These curious situations imply a larger story that often explores dualities both formally and conceptually (safety and danger, peace and turmoil, fire and water).  Strong lighting and shadows are employed to create a sense of mystery while the identities of the men and women are obscured in order to direct the focus of the viewer toward their activity.  

Film noir as well as magazines from the 1940's and early 1950's often inspire my work. Growing up on the Great Plains, I frequently include the action of the wind in my drawings and paintings.  Often the objects are beyond reach or curiously out of human scale to create a dreamlike atmosphere where they can be read as symbolic or actual. The writings of Gaston Bachelard (1884-1962), particularly his books Air and Dreams and The Poetics of Space, have long resonated with my interest in dreamlike imagery.  The pillows in the drawing Plumper could refer to sleep, domesticity, or the marvelous illogic of the dream state.

bio

born:Tulsa, OK

education:

University of Oklahoma, MFA, 1978
Oklahoma State University, BFA, 1972

selected awards/honors

Chancellor's Award for Research, Vanderbilt University, 2004
Spring Prize, Tulane Review of Art and Literature, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, 2004
Top Purchase Award, National Painting Competition, Cheekwood Museum of Art, Nashville, TN, 1996
Fellowship, Southern Arts Federation, 1990

selected publications

Who's Who in American Art:  30th Anniversary Edition, Marquis, 1010 (since 1989)
Alimentum:  A Literary Journal About Food, Issue 9, Winter, Cover, 2010
New American Painting, No. 64, Open Studios Press, Boston, MA, p. 102-105, 2006
Marilyn Murphy: Suspended Animation, Catalog of Mid-Career Survey Exhibition, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN, Authors: Mark Scala and Lucy Lippard, p. 1-52, 2004

selected solo or two-person exhibits

Carl Hammer Gallery: "Wind Mischief," Chicago, IL, 2008
Cumberland Gallery: "Slippery Ideas," Nashville, TN, 2008
Frist Center for the Visual Arts: "Suspended Animation," Mid-Career Survey (Retrospective) Exhibition,Nashville, TN, 2004
Artemisia Gallery: "A Catalog of Winds," Chicago, IL, 2001

selected group shows

Manifest Gallery: "International Drawing Annual 6: an Exhibition in Print," Cincinnati, OH, 2011
Prescott College Art Gallery: "Mechanics of the Imagination," Prescott, AZ, 2010
Ceres Gallery: "Ninth Annual National Exhibition," New York, NY, 2010
Carl Hammer Gallery: "Primal: Drawing as Mirror of Self," Chicago, IL, 2009