About Gwynn Murrill
From the Artist
My primary point of departure when beginning a new piece is the memory of a form that caught my attention; it could be a cat walking through the studio, a coyote jumping from the brush, a ballet dancer casually stretching, or the inferred three-dimensional form of the bodies in a Japanese woodblock print.
To recreate this imagined form, I begin the sculptural process by reducing blocks of wood or foam to a more recognizable shape. The manifestation of the idea takes on a life of its own which I see through until the end, even if it ends up in a slightly different form from the original imagined one.
I am most well known for my animal forms. As I am surrounded in my daily life by the fauna that inhabit the California countryside, it came naturally that I began to use their lines and shapes as the inspiration for my exploration of form.
My interest lies in using my chosen subject as a means to create a form that is simultaneously abstract and figurative. I enjoy the challenge of trying and take the form that nature makes so well and to derive my own interpretation of it.
Gwynn Murrill / Born: Ann Arbor, MI USA
1972 University of California, Los Angeles, B.F.A., M.F.A.
Selected Solo Exhibitions:
2022 Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Pepperdine University, Gwynn Murrill: Animal Nature, Malibu, CA
2020 Craig Krull Gallery, Gwynn Murrill Serpientes, Santa Monica, CA
2019 Craig Krull Gallery, Gwynn Murrill Figures, Santa Monica, CA
Laguna Art Museum. Sculptures by Gwynn Murrill, Laguna Beach, CA
2018 Sonoma Art Museum, Four Deer Sculptures, Sonoma, CA
Telluride Gallery, Diane Best and Gwynn Murrill, Telluride, CO
2017 Bakersfield Museum, Early Wood Sculpture, Bakersfield, CA
Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, Idaho
2016 Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2014 Gwynn Murrill, Christian Petersen Art Museum, Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Selections From The Studio, Diehl Gallery, Jackson, WY
Elizabeth & Byron Anderson Sculpture Garden, Iowa State University, Ames, IA
2013 Murrill Menagerie, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, WI
Select Work, Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID
2012 Gwynn Murrill on Avenue of The Stars, Century City, Los Angeles, CA
Sixty-Five Animal Maquettes, Washburn Gallery, New York, NY
Lux Art Institute, Exhibition and Artist in Residence, Encinitas, CA
2010 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
2009 Maquettes, L.A. Louver, Venice, CA
Early Wood Sculpture, Santa Monica College, Pete and Susan Barrett Art Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Selected Cats, Chris Winfield Gallery, Carmel, CA
2007 Primal Form: The Sculpture of Gwynn Murrill, The Fresno Museum, Fresno, CA
Cats, Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID
Birds, Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
From Classical to Baroque, L.A. Louver, Venice, CA
2006 Recent Sculpture in Bronze, Washburn Gallery, New York, NY
2005 L.A. Louver, Skyroom, Venice, CA
Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID
2004 Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID
Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2003 New Work, L.A. Louver, Venice, CA
2002 Lux Art Institute, Encinitas, CA
Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, CA
2001 Washburn Gallery, New York, NY
2000 Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe. NM
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2019 Made in California, Wayne Shimabukuro insightful portrait photographs, Robert and Frances
Fullerton Museum of Art, San Bernardino, CA
2018 Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Sonoma, CA
2016 Art & Spirit, First Congregational Church (curated by Art Division), Los Angeles, CA
2015 Aviarium, Diehl Gallery, Jackson, WY
Wild Spirit: Horses in Art, Wildling Museum, Solvang, CA
Equinity, Diehl Gallery, Jackson, WY
2014 Western Visions, National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, WY
Dog Days of Summer, Frostig Collection, Santa Monica, CA
Gwynn Murrill/Raphaëlle Goethals, Morrison Gallery, Kent, CT
Venice Under the Influence, curated by Amanda Quinn Olivar, Window Between Worlds (James Beach), Venice, CA
Natural Unnatural Supernatural, Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, HI
2013 Frostig at Large - The Artists of the Frostig Collection, Museum of Art and History, Lancaster, CA
National Museum of Wildlife Art of the United States, Jackson, WY
Local Fish, Ernie Wolfe Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Celebrating Two Decades - The Peggy and Eric Lieber Collection and Other Gifts, Fredrick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Malibu, CA
The Animals Look Back at Us, Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, Woodstock, NY
2012 The Big Picture, Palm Springs Fine Art Fair, Palm Springs, CA
Ed’s Party: Spheres of Influence in The L.A. Art Scene, William Turner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2011 Shatterheads and Gwynn, Two-person show with Ed Moses, Ernie Wolfe Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Land Use / Misuse: The Celebration and Exploitation of the American Landscape, Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Group Show, L.A. Louver, Venice, CA
REAL, Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, CA
2010 Artist Perspectives, Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Kink, Koplin Del Rio, Culver City, CA
Malibu Sculpture 2010, Curated by Carl Schlosberg Fine Arts, Malibu, CA
Intimate to Monumental - Contemporary Sculpture,
Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, ID
5 Tigers on exhibition through 2012, Grounds For Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ
2009 L.A. Louver, Venice, CA
2008 L.A. Louver, Venice, CA
California in New York, Curated by Carl Schlosberg Fine Arts, Hubert Gallery, New York, NY
Endangered Species, Santa Monica College, Pete and Susan Barrett Art Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
The Frostig Collection, SCAPE, Corona del Mar, CA
Defining the West; Two Hundred Years of American Imagery, Gerald Peters Gallery, Dallas, TX
2007 day and night, L.A. Louver, Venice, CA
The Left Coast, Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, CA
Multiple Vantage Points: Southern California Women Artists 1980 ~ Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Carl Schlosberg Exhibitions Inc., Beverly Hills, CA
2006 Going Ape: Confronting Animals in Contemporary Art - with 5 Tigers on extended exhibition through 2009,
The DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA
The ADAA Art Show 2006, Washburn Gallery, New York, NY
Tenth Anniversary Exhibition, The Contemporary Museum at The First Hawaiian Center, Honolulu, HI
Carl Schlosberg Exhibitions Inc., Beverly Hills, CA
Gwynn Murrill-Sculpture & Wayne Shimabukuro-Photography, California State University Los Angeles, Fine Arts Gallery,
Los Angeles, CA
2005 L.A. Louver, Venice, CA
Carl Schlosberg Exhibitions Inc., Malibu, CA
Wilder: A Tribute to the Nicholas Wilder Gallery Los Angeles, 1965-1979, Washburn Gallery, New York, NY
2004 Sculpture, L.A. Louver, Venice, CA
Free Associations, ARTS Manhattan, Manhattan Beach, CA
2002 Animal Instincts, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, WI
Cerritos Art Gallery, Norwalk, CA
Carl Schlosberg Fine Arts, Beverly Hills, CA
2001 L.A. Louver Gallery, Venice, CA
2000 Representing L.A.: Pictorial Currents in Contemporary Southern California Art, Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA;
Art Institute of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX (2001); Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA (2001)
Symbols of Survival: Images of Animals in Recent Sculpture, Dorsky Gallery, New York, NY
Awards:
2019 Joan Mitchell Emergency Grant, Woosley Fire
2009 Americans For The Arts, Public Art Network, Year in Review Award
2007 Distinguished Woman Artist of The Year, The Fresno Museum Council of 100, Fresno, CA
2002 Good Design Award, The Japan Institute For Design Promotion
1986 John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship
1985 Individual Artist Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts
1980 Prix di Roma Fellowship, American Academy in Rome
1978 New Talent Purchase Award from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; enters the LACMA permanent collection
Selected Public Commissions:
2008 San Francisco Zoo, San Francisco, CA
The Montana, MS Property Company, Pasadena, CA
2006 West L.A. Animal Shelter, Los Angeles, CA
2004 Greater Toronto Airport Authority, Pearson Airport, Toronto
2003 Target Corporation, Minneapolis, MN
2002 San Francisco Zoo, San Francisco, CA
2001 City of Obihiro, Japan
2000 Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, CA
1999 City of Obihiro, Japan
1996 Embassy of the United States of America, Singapore
1994 Palos Verdes Peninsula Library, Rolling Hills, CA
1993 Hugo Neuhaus Jr. Memorial Fountain, Mrs. Hugo Neuhaus, Heritage Park, Houston, TX
1992 Grand Hope Park, City of Los Angeles Community
1991 Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandizing, (collaboration with Tony Berlant), Los Angeles, CA
1990 City of Culver City, Redevelopment Art Program, Culver City, CA
U.S. Bank Plaza, LPT Associates, Sacramento, CA
1989 Ronald Reagan State Building, State of California Arts Commission, Los Angeles, CA
Selected Public Collections (In alphabetical order):
City of Brea, CA
City of Hope, Duarte, CA
City of Santa Monica, CA
Coldwater Canyon Park, City of Beverly Hills, CA
Commerce Bank, Kansas City, MO
Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Malibu, CA
Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, WI
Living Desert Museum, Palm Desert, CA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Marvin and Sondra Smalley Sculpture Garden, American Jewish University, Bel-Air, CA
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
National Museum of Wildlife Art of the United States, Jackson, WY
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, CA
Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, OR
Rancho Tapo Community Park, Veterans Memorial, Simi Valley, CA
Pacific Western Bank (prev. Security Pacific Bank), Los Angeles, CA
Trammel Crow Corporation, Minneapolis, MN
TransAmerica Corporation, San Francisco, CA
Wells Fargo Bank (prev. United Bank of Denver), Denver, CO