Linda Clowes Murray
Artist Statement - Let my art be inspired by, yet free from what I see around me. Let it take me to places I’ve never been before. Let my art evoke wonder at the mysteries of our planet and life itself. My art, like my art making practice is about discovery. The alluring push and pull of wet pigment on the surface, the intermingling of colors joining to make new hues in an ever changing kaleidoscope of shapes and textures, these are the things that keep me motivated to make art.
Writer Anais Nin once said, “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” My work must tell a story. A story that is open so that each viewer might unravel their own story when looking at the work. I like to think my paintings are meditations that tug at our feelings, drawing on memories and our unique consciousness.
Biography - Linda Murray is a water media artist living in West Gardiner, Maine. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibits throughout New England and abroad, including the Arnold Arboretum, Boston, Ma; The Charles Danforth Gallery at the University of Maine, Augusta, Me; The Zullo Gallery, Medfield, MA; Bowdoin Colleges Smith Union, Brunswick, ME; Aucocisco Gallery, Portland, Me; Qasimsabti Gallery, Baghdad, Iraq and The Djiboutian Arts Institute/Institut Francais-Arthur Rimbaud, Djibouti City, Djibouti, Africa. She is represented by The Cynthia Pettengill Fine Art Galleries in Wayne, ME. In addition, Murray's work is held in private and public collections in the United States and United Kingdom including the University of Maine in Augusta and the Cocheco Falls Millworks, Dover, New Hampshire. Linda has received many awards including second place in the New England Watercolor Society's regional juried exhibit in 2011 and the Mary Jo Rines Memorial Award for Innovation in Art in 2018.
Murray has a B.A. in studio art from the University of Maine in Augusta, Maine. She has also studied under watercolorists Carlton Plummer and Judy Wagner of East Boothbay and Florida. In 2001 she raised the funds to bring the Arts for the Parks to the University of Maine at Augusta. This marked the first time this traveling exhibit, supported by the National Park Service, had traveled to Maine. Her artwork has been featured in publications such as Models, Numbers and Cases, Still Point Arts Quarterly and Paintingand Painting in Acrylics The Indispensable Guide.
Murray teaches art in public and private venues and was awarded Enrichment Teacher of the Year by the Merrymeeting Adult Educational System in 2010. In 2004 she served as the first executive director of the Harlow Gallery, a non-profit gallery located in Hallowell, Maine. She is a Signature Member of the New England Watercolor Society.
Resume
Education
2004 University of Maine, in Augusta, Maine, BA Studio Art with honors.
Select Exhibitions
2018 “New England Watercolor Society’s Biennial North American Open Juried Show, Mary Jo Rines Memorial Award for Innovation in Art, Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, MA
2016 “The First 40 Years”, Solo Exhibit, Kennebec Landing, Bath, ME
2016 “Off The Wall”, Solo Exhibit, The Sharpe Gallery, Kennebunk, ME
“The Art of Composing”, Group Exhibit, The Sharpe Gallery, Kennebunk, ME
2015 “Love Sails Forever”, Group Exhibit, The Sharpe Gallery, Kennebunk, ME
2014 “Finding Our Voice”, Group Exhibit, Bowdoin College, Smith Union, Brunswick, ME
“ART2014”, Juried Exhibit, Harlow Gallery, Hallowell, ME
“Coyote Connections, Group Exhibit, University of New England, Portland, ME
2013 “Artist's Choice”, River Arts, Damariscotta, ME
“ART 2013”, The Harlow Gallery, Hallowell, ME
2012 “Linda Murray”, The Sharpe Gallery, Kennebunk, ME
“Selected Watercolor Artists From New England”, Zullo Gallery, Medfield, MA
2011 “New England Watercolor Society's Reg. Juried Exhibit”, Westfield College Downtown Gallery, Westfield, MA
2010 “…Nothing As Lovely As A Tree” Gallery Della-Piana, Wenham, MA
“New England Watercolor Society’s Annual Open Juried Exhibit, North Shore Arts Center, Gloucester, MA
“2010 CMCA Biennial”, Center for Contemporary Art, Rockport, ME
2009 “Sylvan”, Solo Exhibit, Harmon's & Barton's, Portland, ME
“Driven to Abstraction”, Group Juried Exhibit, River Arts, Damriscotta, ME
“Root Works”, Solo Exhibit, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, Boston, MA
“Hello, Baghdad”, Group Invitational Exhibit, Qasimsabti Gallery, Baghdad, Iraq
“Shelterwood”, Solo Exhibit, Pine Tree State Arboretum, Augusta, ME
“Out of Stillness”, Group Invitational Exhibit, Blue Marble Gallery, Waterville, ME
“A Walk In The Woods”, Solo Exhibit, Joseph A. Driscoll Art Gallery, Brockton, MA
2007 “Untitled” Invitational Group Exhibit, Blue Marble Gallery, Waterville, ME
Honors and Awards
2018 Mary Jo Rines Memorial Award for Innovation, NEWS Biennial North American Open Juried Show
2015 Third Place, Boothbay Regional Art Foundation, Art In Me Exhibit
2011 Second Place, NEWS Regional Juried Exhibit, Westfield College Downtown Gallery, Westfield, MA
2005 Best in Show, Bath Heritage Days, Bath, ME
2005 Best in Watercolor Category, ART 2005, Harlow Gallery, Hallowell, ME
2001 Best In Show, ART 2001, Harlow Gallery, Hallowell, ME
2000 Honorable Mention, Waterville Art Society Juried Exhibit, Waterville, ME
Corporate Collectors
Control Point Engineering, Scarborough, ME
University of Maine, Augusta, ME
Cocheco Falls Millworks, Dover, NH (collaborative mural piece)
William Raveis Real Estate, Bath, ME
Gallery Affiliation
Art Space Gallery, Rockland, ME
Edgecomb Potters, Edgecomb and Portland, ME
The Harlow Gallery, Hallowell, ME
The Boothbay Region Art Foundation, Boothbay Harbor, ME
Bibliography
2014, Lorena Kloosterboer, “Painting in Acrylics The Indispensable Guide”, Firefly Books (U.S.) Inc.
2011, Roz Martin, July Issue, Glimpse of Something Greater, FineArtMagazine.com
Christine Brook Cote, Still Point Arts Quarterly, Winter 2011, Issue No. 4, “Out of the Abyss Came Sweetness” featured inside back cover.
2010, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, ME, 2010 Biennial Juried Exhibition Catalog
2009, Daniel Kany, February 28, Art Teachers Create Instructive Show of Their Own, Portland Press Herald
2004, Co-Authored by Yael Wolinsky-Nahmias and Detlef F. Sprinz, “Choices” featured on the cover “Models, Numbers
Cases” University of Michigan Press 2004
Other Affiliations
New England Watercolor Society, Signature Member
Boothbay Region Art Foundation, Boothbay Harbor, ME
Kennebec Valley Art Association, Hallowell, ME
Related Information
2006 to 2020 Adult Educational Instructor in Watercolor and Acrylic,
Merrymeeting Adult Education
2010 Enrichment Teacher of the Year
Merrymeeting Adult Education, Topsham/Brunswick, Me
2017 to 2019 Adult Educational Instructor in Watercolor,
Maranacook Adult Education, Reidfield, Me
2019 Adult Educational Instructor in Watercolor,
Gardiner Adult Education, Gardiner, Me
2004-2005 Executive Director of The Harlow Gallery
Non-Profit Arts Organization and Gallery, Hallowell, Me
