Susan Murrell

smurrell@eou.edu
(Drawing, Painting, Printmaking, Capstone Courses)

Artist’s Statement

Our concept of landscape has changed through technology. The visible horizon traditionally defined our relationship to the world; now with our expanding perspective, we feel a kinship with microscopic images and aerial views of planets. Vestiges of built environments, architecture, or even scientific illustration have been added to our visual vernacular and create a sense of place for us. Our bodies are quite literally composed of recycled matter from the stars. We are reshuffled molecules. In this context, I consider myself a landscape painter.

www.susanstudio.com

Artist’s Biography

Susan Murrell is an artist whose work is created as a meditation on passageways, life transitions and the constancy of matter. Her practice has been supported with many opportunities funded by the Ford Family Foundation and the Oregon Arts Commission. She has been awarded residencies at programs such as Yaddo, Ragdale, Arteles in Finland and Westfjords in Iceland. Murrell has exhibited at Siena Heights University, Boise State University, Schneider Museum of Art, Carnation Contemporary, and Portland State University, among others. Her work has recently been collected by the University of Oregon and the United States Library of Congress, Prints division. Murrell is a recipient of Oregon Art Commission’s 2022 Individual Artist Fellowship and a Professor of Art at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande where she glides on crystals and floats down rivers.