Artist Biography

Margaret Murray is a Northern California-based painter who specializes in loose, atmospheric landscapes. She grew up near Mt. Lassen Volcanic National Park, surrounded by six siblings and miles of National Wilderness land. She learned to appreciate the power and beauty of nature from a young age, and with the guidance of her parents and family, she learned to paint, write, sing, and play instruments. Her early exposure to many different art forms gave her an appreciation for all types of artistic beauty and expression. She was taught that all art forms (poetry, literature, music, studio art) are the language of feelings, emotions, and stories. Combined with her strong love for nature and craftsmanship, Margaret uses these different art forms to search for meaning in each piece of work.

In 2014, Margaret attended Shasta College and intended to major in music, but she was inexplicably drawn to the painting studio. At this time, she had not practiced studio arts seriously, but could not resist the urge to pick up the paintbrush. Margaret finished her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at San Jose State University with a concentration in Pictorial Art. Here she expanded her skills into conceptual, abstract, and three-dimensional art practice. In 2018 Margaret began working as a Fine Arts instructor for a studio in San Jose, CA. Here she provided extracurricular classes for children and adults, teaching oils, acrylics, pencil, charcoal, watercolor, and ceramics. She was promoted to primary Instructor and Studio Coordinator in 2019, which included assisting with the running of the Studio and managing the class schedules and attendance. After the outbreak of the Covid-19 Pandemic, Margaret was forced to stop teaching and move back to Redding, California, where she currently lives and works.

Margaret’s current body of work studies the relationship between landscapes and the human experience. This series focuses on using atmosphere and color to imbue memory into a piece– to make an artwork resemble the hazy, exaggerated images of memory. She wants to capture the magic and feeling of an experience that cannot be captured by camera.

In addition, Margaret has been working with the City of Redding leading a non-clinical Art Therapy program. These classes allow kids and teens to learn new skills, find confidence in their own hands, and communicate their emotions in healthy ways. She leads community

Artist Statement

I never intended to make this a body of work. While I was fretting over this idea and that, trying to come up with an interesting idea for a series of work, I started painting landscapes for fun. I chose moments from my camera roll—moments that I had shared with loved ones while on adventures—and painted them. “It’s just practice” I would tell myself. “Until I come up with something serious, something meaningful.”

And so I painted: a memory captured on a mountaintop; a soft moment by a campfire; a bright trail under a glaring sun. Before I knew it, a beautiful body of work was all around me. Moments of joy and happiness, each one captured by camera, and rendered into a painting with love and care.

I work with oil paints, and as I work, I think back to each moment and try to capture as much feeling as possible. When I take photographs, they never quite catch the magnitude of the landscape that I remember, so I exaggerate certain colors or textures to bring back some of the magic, some of the power of the world. I try to capture not just the image, but the spirit, as well.

All of these images are from my own adventures across the beautiful North California landscape.