Thérèse Murdza Studio Art
has moved to a new site!
www.MURDZA.art
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Welcome
Thérèse here. How can I help? Since 2001, I've steady made my signature bright, richly textured paintings to encourage and enliven people where we work, rest, and gather. Using an animated range of colors, lines and shapes informed by the natural environment, I create large, multi-paneled works on canvas, and smaller works on canvas and paper. From my studio in Portland, Oregon, I work with design professionals, gallerists, and directly with people like you throughout the U.S. and beyond. With real props to artists who remind and show us the world is burning, my work wants to remind us the world is also turning. And we are here together. Can you feel it? Art helps. Coming to the Paint Before I learned to tie my shoes, I played a small accordion. I studied music at a Maryland public high school, then theater at a state university, learning new forms of materializing sounds in transitory space. I acted, directed, wrote plays, and published poetry. I worked in bookstores and offices, and wrote and read. I relished the moments of awe and flowing emotion and of contact. The beginnings and ends and middles of awareness. The being in the middle of things. In the midst of. The coming upon. In medias res. Years living up and down the east coast found me one night at a wall with big paper. Hands and thick pencils unraveling words. Distilling the shapes into lines, circles, squares and color. It might have been writing. I may have been drawing. Seeing sound, feeling language, somehow marking perception in graphite, charcoal, ink, pencil, and inevitably: Paint. |
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 Installation of 'colloquy'. Private collection. Portland, OR |
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press highlights
Luxe Interiors + Design Magazine. Pacific Northwest Edition. View the Article. "Modern Moves" by Brian Libby. Photography by Lincoln Barbour. Design by Kim Hagstette, Maven Interiors. Artwork acquisition. Commissioned. Cover Artist. Artslandia. Portland's Performing Arts Annual 2019-20. Read the Interview. Misty Tompoles, Artslandia founder and publisher, took notice of Murdza's work years ago. "Her large-format paintings are hard to miss. At once stimulating and calming, their allure is irresistible." Podcast Introducing Artslandia's 2019-20 Cover Artist. Listen to the Interview. 'A conversation with the cover artist for Artslandia's much anticipated Annual Issue. Brilliant painter (and thinker) Thérèse Murdza's artistic path began with toddlerhood accordion lessons from her dad, followed by a deep dive into theater.' Featured Artist. Subjectiv: A Visual and Literary Arts Journal of the Pacific Northwest. Read the Interview. '...I'm interested in how we support each other to be continually touched by beauty and surprise and color...' Wise Design Spotlight. Read the Interview. '...trust The River. I know from practice that it is always available. Enter the stream. Make. Edit. Make. Edit. Make. Edit. Share.' '11 Portland art exhibits to freshen up your fall'. Article by Briana Miller for The Oregonian. Read the article. '[Murdza's] musings and anagrams forgo the obvious words, instead riffing on a prosaic vocabulary of nouns and verbs such as "know," "tell," "look" and, in these two solo shows "cake."...the quotidian words gain insistence through repetition.' commissions
See a selection of commissioned projects here.collections
Paintings on canvas and works on paper held in commercial, residential, and museum collections including those in Boston, MA; Brooklyn, NY; Philadelphia, PA; Baltimore, MD; Lewes, DE; Washington, DC; Durham, NC; Atlanta, GA; Chicago, IL; Northfield, MN; Cedar Rapids, IA; Grinnell, IA; Des Moines, IA; Omaha, NE; Baton Rouge, LA; Denver, CO; Boise, ID; Anchorage, AK; Portland, OR; San Francisco, CA; Oakland, CA; Los Angeles, CA; andUnited Fire Group. Los Angeles, CA Oregon Reproductive Medicine Clinic. Portland, OR In Both Ears, Inc., Portland, OR Cedar Rapids Bank Trust, Cedar Rapids, IA Cedar Rapids Museum of Art. Cedar Rapids, IA Kaiser Permanente Beaverton Medical Office. Portland, OR Bluebird Real Estate. Portland, OR Arenson Law Group, Cedar Rapids, IA Raven Industries. Sioux Falls, SD Raining Rose, Inc. Cedar Rapids, IA United Fire Group. Cedar Rapids, IA TD Ameritrade Headquarters. Omaha, NE Performance Health Technology. Salem, OR Kaiser Westside Medical Center. Hillsboro, OR Creative Entertainment Management. Portland, OR Aviva Life Insurance Co. Des Moines, IA Smarsh, Inc. Portland, OR Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Iowa and South Dakota, HQ. Des Moines, IA Mirabella Portland, South Waterfront. Portland, OR Mercy Medical Center - West Lakes. Des Moines, IA Marshalltown Public Library. Marshalltown, IA Mercy Cancer Center - West Lakes. Clive, IA Casey Eye Institute. Office of Dev. Oregon Health Science University. Portland, OR The Eleanor Building. Durham, NC Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science. Duke University. Durham, NC exhibitions
upcoming. New Work. 2023. Title TBD. Gilded Pear Gallery. Cedar Rapid, IA. (solo)'Any Way New'. 2021. Gilded Pear Gallery. Cedar Rapids, IA. (solo) Gallery Artists Winter Show. Moberg Gallery. 2021. Des Moines, IA 'MAKE MORE CAKE / revel and reclamations'. 2019. pushdot studio. Portland, OR (solo) 'TAKE MORE CAKE / promise and permissions'. 2019. Luke's Frame Shop. Portland, OR (solo) 'true maps'. 2019. Gilded Pear Gallery, Cedar Rapids, IA (solo) Small Works Show. 2019. Anne Irwin Fine Art. Atlanta, GA 'PAUSE'. 2018. Moore Art Project. Portland, OR Gallery Artists Summer Show. Moberg Gallery. 2018. Des Moines, IA The Recycled Rain Project Show. Ford Gallery. 2018. Portland, OR 'CHAPTER'. 2017. Moore Art Project. Portland, OR The Recycled Rain Project Show. 2017. Portland, OR 'close readings and evolutions'. Luke's Frame Shop. 2017. Portland, OR (solo) 'sequitur non-sequitur'. Gilded Pear Gallery. 2017. Cedar Rapids, IA (solo) 'close readings and evolutions'. Coe College Art Gallery. 2017. Cedar Rapids, IA (solo) New Works. Luke's Frame Shop. 2017. Portland, OR (solo) New Works. Gilded Pear Gallery. 2017. Cedar Rapids, IA (solo) New Works. Coe College Fine Art Gallery. 2017. Cedar Rapids, IA Abstract Show. 2016. Anne Irwin Fine Art. Atlanta, GA open [sketch]book. pushdot studio. 2016. Portland, OR (solo) West Coast Roots. 2016. Anne Irwin Fine Art. Atlanta, GA The Recycled Rain Project Show. 2016. Portland, OR New Works on Paper 2016. Moore Art Project. Portland, OR (solo) NW Artists Show. 2016. Anne Irwin Fine Art. Atlanta, GA Large Works Winter Show. 2016. Moberg Gallery. Des Moines, IA New Works. 2015. FW Gallery. Baton Rouge, LA The Recycled Rain Project Show. 2015. Portland, OR Sketch: New Works on Paper. 2015. Luke's Frame Shop. Portland, OR (solo) Large Works Group Show. 2015. Featured. Moberg Gallery. Des Moines, IA Back Gallery Group Show. 2014. Featured. Moberg Gallery. Des Moines, IA The Paper Show. 2014. Moberg Gallery. Des Moines, IA Siren Nation Festival Art Show: Paint Your Art Out. 2014. Portland, OR Everything is a Love Letter: New Works. 2014. Gilded Pear Gallery. Cedar Rapids, IA (solo) The Recycled Rain Project Show. 2014. Featured Artist. Portland, OR The Daily Palette. 2013. University of Iowa. Iowa City, IA The Big Oh! May 2013. Resonance Ensemble Concert Series. Portland, OR (commission) New Works. Apr 2013. Coffeehouse Northwest. Portland, OR (solo) 24 Preludes Fugues for Painters. Mar 2013. Shostakovich Music Moderne Series. 10 Year Anniversary Exhibit. 2012. Moberg Gallery. Des Moines, IA yes you yes. September 2012. Gallery 135. Portland, OR (solo) Reimagining Image. 2011. pushdot studio. Portland, OR (solo) "...come Spring." 2011. Luke's Frame Shop. Portland, OR (solo) Thérèse Murdza: Small Works. 2011. Relish Design. Portland, OR (solo) Music and Memory. 2011. Resonance Ensemble Concert Series. Portland, OR (solo) New Works. 2010. ArtWorks + Brewhouse Studio. Portland, OR (solo) Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt. 2009. Heidi McBride Gallery Install. Portland, OR (solo) New Artists. 2009. Moberg Gallery. Des Moines, IA Works on Paper. 2009. Moberg Gallery. Des Moines, IA Do North. 2008. Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center. Portland, OR Fall Show. 2006. CornerHouse Gallery. Cedar Rapids, IA Iowa Series II. 2005. Grinnell Community Art Gallery. Grinnell, IA (solo) The Daily Palette. 2004. University of Iowa. Iowa City, IA Iowa Series I. 2001. Grinnell Community Art Gallery. Grinnell, IA (solo) The Opening. 2001. Third Space Studio. Durham, NC (solo) teaching
Since 2018, I have offered one-on-one mentoring to emerging and established artists and makers. Calling on a range of resources, we discover or strengthen intentions for a student's work and practice. It is a committed and very individualized process, meant to stay dynamic and responsive to a student's creative needs as they evolve over time.related experience and community events
education
archived press
A Holstein. "Top Design Trends with Trisha Guido." Portland Monthly Magazine. May 9, 2011."An Open House" by Diane Daniel. From the series of articles "How to Live With Art". North Carolina Signature Magazine. Nov/Dec 2007. Features collectors Tema Okun and Tom Stern. "CornerHouse Gallery features New Works by Favorite Artists." Iowa Cultural Corridor Alliance. CulturalCorridor.Org. Sept 2006. The Spiritual Activist: Practices to Transform Your Life, Your Work, and Your World. Claudia Horwitz. New York: Penguin USA, 2002. Interviewed for chapter "Mindfulness." Exploring Realities: Stories of Young Women Making Decisions and Finding Meaning. Maura Wolf. Durham, NC: Stone Circles, 2000. Interviewed for chapter "Art, Education and Adventure." |
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