Past Exhibits

Primal Form: The Sculpture of Gwynn Murrill 

When:  Fri., Sept. 7 – Sun., Nov. 11, 2007
Where:  Lobby and Concourse Galleries

Council of 100 Award Luncheon:
Sat., Sept. 8, 11:30 am (Reservations required)

Conversation with the Artist:
Sat., Sept. 8, 2:00 pm (Public Invited)

Council of 100 Distinguished Woman Artist for 2007

Gwynn Murrill’s figures are both timeless and utterly contemporary. Her work often brings to mind Classical and Egyptian antiquity and yet is immediately recognizable as her own. Gwynn’s reduction of detail strips the subject down to its absolute essence, which enhances its classicism and its power. There is vitality in the simplest figure as individual characteristics give way to universal attributes.” Sara Campbell, Senior Curator, Norton Simon Museum Gwynn Murrill brings to her award as the Council of 100 Distinguished Woman Artist for 2007 a lifetime of compelling and powerful work – the exhibition presented is an overview of her command of disparate materials chosen for the expression of her sculptural language where pure abstract form transcends anthropomorphism. There are coyotes of laminated Koa wood, a cat hewn from grey Carrara marble, deer of bronze, an animal relief carved within ceramic tiles, along with soaring bronze eagles – each sculpture extends beyond the mimetic impulse to “follow nature.”  Murrill’s sculptural sensibility, in the words of Peter Clothier, is an “ecstatic apprehension of pure form in the environment of pure space.” Since Gwynn Murrill’s first solo show at Rico Mizuno’s Los Angeles gallery in 1972, her process has continually evolved into a formal austerity connecting her personal aesthetic to that of the traditions of classic modernist sculpture. The initial pieces were sculpted from found wood that had been laminated into large blocks. By the early 1980's the wood gave way to stone and marble carvings and by 1990 she was casting most of her forms in bronze. These works have been presented in over 36 solo shows and in more than 50 group exhibitions. Our exhibition will feature the work entitled ‘Cougar Pond’ first exhibited in 2005. It is a fountain piece combining sculpture with architectural elements.

Drawn to animal forms because of their complex beauty, Murrill writes that: “My interest lies in the fact that I use the subject as a means to create a form that is abstract and figurative at the same time. It is a challenge to try and take the form that nature makes so well and to derive my own interpretation of it. I spend hours perfecting a piece with the goal to utilize all of the negative space surrounding the form as a vehicle for the abstract part of the sculpture. The negative space is as important to my sculpture as the positive space, evoking somewhat of a Yin and Yang relationship. Many of the animals I work with are also a part of our life here in the American west, and I truly enjoy expressing my appreciation of their existence.” Over her career, Gwynn Murrill has received many accolades that include the Guggenheim Fellowship, a Prix di Roma Fellowship from the Academy in Rome, and a purchase award from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Her work is held by many private collections and can be seen in a number of public commissions throughout the U.S. and across the globe. The American Embassy in Singapore displays one of her Eagles, as does the Target Corporation Headquarters in Minneapolis. The City of Obihiro, Japan installed seven of Gwynn’s deer along its main thoroughfares in 2003, and Los Angeles’ Grand Hope Park is home to a collection of three coyotes, a hawk, and one snake. Currently she is working on a number of Southern California public art projects. Her ‘Fountain’ for the West Los Angeles Animal Shelter is due for completion this summer and she has just begun an extensive sculpture and relief commission with a private developer for a highly visible building to be completed in Pasadena in 2008.

Council of 100

The Council of 100 proudly presents sculptor Gwynn Murrill as the Distinguished Woman Artist of 2007; a member’s reception for her exhibit will take place on Friday, September 7. She will give a public lecture on Saturday, September 8, at 2:00 pm in the Bonner Auditorium. Other Council of 100 events are currently being planned and will take place throughout the year. For information on membership in the Council, contact Patt Castro at the museum, 441-4221.

Murrill received her MFA from UCLA and has shown with many prestigious galleries, including L.A. Louver Gallery in Venice, John Berggruen Gallery in San Francisco, Joan Washburn Gallery in New York, and Gerald Peters Gallery in Santa Fe. Many of Murrill’s works in public collections are shown out of doors, including those at the Norton Simon Museum, the City of Hope, the San Francisco Zoo, and Grand Hope Park in Los Angeles.

Organized in 1986, the Council of 100 is a unique organization devoted to recognizing outstanding women in the arts. Working in collaboration with the Museum, the Council has garnered recognition for its Distinguished Woman Artist Award. It is a coveted award that has brought the Fresno Art Museum statewide and national recognition. Fresno’s was the first museum in the country to create a serious program featuring the work of important women artists in what was clearly a male dominated art world.