Susan Murrell: Future Islands

On view from Sept. 23 – Dec. 4

Artist talk: Oct. 29 at 4 p.m.

The Overview Effect is a phenomenon that many astronauts experience when looking back at earth on their first mission. Struck by the fragility and paper-thin atmosphere of this planet hanging in the vastness of space, they are overwhelmed by an obvious and imperative need to protect it. As an artist, I am encouraged that an essentially aesthetic experience, a shift in perspective, becomes a profound, life-changing environmental awakening. As awe-inspiring as our journey with technology might be, however, exploitation and greed often hijack the ride and we are left with a cascade of negative consequences. I wonder: can we disentangle ingenuity from hubris?

An island is often a metaphor for isolation; currently it is a bellwether for a changing world. I am interested in our proclivity to be co-creators of the landscape as we assign value to materials, delineate, harvest, excavate, and build. I am inspired by how the prevalent philosophies and priorities of our time sculpt the physical environment and how this place is more porous, interconnected, and transitory than we often realize. The landscape holds an archive of human values and pursuits. It is evidence of what we have prized and what we have discarded, reflecting our history and informing how we live. I work with a personal and intuitive vocabulary to explore this connection and transformation, using abstraction to reflect the limits of human perception and how we fill in the blanks with misguided poetry.

Artist bio:

Susan Murrell is an artist who creates painting-centric installations and 2-D work 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 the Yucca Valley Material Lab, Ucross Foundation, Yaddo, Ragdale, and Arteles in Finland. Murrell has exhibited at The Whatcom Museum, PRAx Center for the Visual Arts, Siena Heights University, Boise State University, Schneider Museum of Art, Carnation Contemporary, and Portland State University, among others. Her work has been collected by the United States Library of Congress and many public collections throughout the Pacific Northwest. Murrell is a recipient of the Oregon Art Commission’s 2022 Individual Artist Fellowship. She is a Professor of Art at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande where she glides on crystals and floats down rivers.