Joanna Murphy Studio

Joanna lives & works in New York City and the Catskill Mountains.
Statement
Joanna Murphy’s paintings display a connection to the romanticism of the Hudson River School and the gestural expressionism of the New York Abstract Expressionists. Now a studio painter, she began her career as en plain air landscape painter and her inspirations remain the same, the land, nature, animals and poetry.
Her work balances elements of both realism and dreamlike abstractions with richly colored and bold compositional rhythms. Primarily, human presence is excluded, however, in the strange shadows, dark spaces, and areas of light in the windows, roofs and at the edges of the forest, are suggested an intangible yet human experience of life. It is you that dissolves into the rhythm of her paint and brush strokes.
The paintings embody her unique perceptions and understanding of her environments.
Joanna Murphy works from the rooftops of her lower east side neighborhood or her transcendental studio in the Catskill mountains.
She is an alumnus of the Swain School of Design in New Bedford Ma. Influenced at Swain by painter and teacher David L. Smith, who was a student of abstract expressionist Hoffman’s in the 50’s. Murphy studied with Henry Hensche in Provincetown Ma. Hensche instilled in his students a profound appreciation for the beauty of nature’s light and color. Henry Hensche studied with George Bellows and Charles Hawthorne's Cape Cod School of Art.
She was awarded a grant from the Gotltlieb Foundation and a Residency at Vermont Studio Center.
Her landscape murals are featured in several of the towns and private homes in the Catskill Mountains.
CV
2016 -2023
Hawk and Hive Andes NY
Albert Shahinian Fine Art Rhinebeck NY
198 Allen St.Gallery NYC NY
The Miami Art Expo Miami FL
Wired Gallery Hudson Valley NY
Longyear Gallery Margaretville NY
George Billis Gallery LA CA
George Billis Gallery NY NY
Limner Gallery Hudson NY
Visual Aids NY NY
Leo Koenig Inc. Contemporary, Andes, NY
Rachel Fine Art Delhi, Ny
Julie Heller Provincetown, Ma.
Morpho Gallery Chicago IL 2014 - 2015
Leo Koenig Inc. Contemporary, Andes, NY
61 Main Gallery, Andes, NY
Rachel Fine Art, Delhi, Ny
Smithy Pioneer Gallery, Cooperstown, NY
Art Essex Gallery, Essex, Ct
Julie Heller, Provincetown, Ma 2013
January Invitational, Art Essex Gallery
10 Main Street, Essex, CT 2012
Roxbury Arts Group, Roxbury, NY
Julie Heller Gallery, Provincetown, MA
Rachel Fine Art, Delhi, NY
61 Main Gallery, Andes, NY 2011
Whet Paint Auction At The Roxbury Arts Group, Roxbury, NY
Cornell University, College of Veterinary Medicine Collection. Ithaca, N.Y.
MURAL on Main Street, Stamford, NY
61 Main Gallery, Andes, NY
2009 - present
Rachel's Fine Art, Delhi, NY 2008
The Bleecker Street Theatre NY NY 2007
Kelly Glass studio and Gallery NY NY
Roxbury Arts Group Roxbury, NY. 2006
Atlantic Gallery, New York, NY
Tristan Gallery, Provincetown, MA 2005-11
Julie Heller Gallery, Provincetown, MA 2004
Mercury Art, West Chester - PA. 2003
Chameleon Gallery, Newburyport - MA
Bread and Roses Gallery 1199/SEIU, NY NY
1995-03
Wolfarth Fine Art Gallery, Washington - DC
Provincetown - MA
Fisher Gallery, Newport - RI. 1990
Spring Bull Gallery, Newport - RI
ART, Providence - RI 1984-85
Downtown Artists Group, Providence - RI 1983 New Space, San Francisco - CA
South of Market Art Works, San Francisco - CA
1980-81
30 Artists, San Francisco - CA
Los Angeles Gallery, San Francisco - CA
Church Street Gallery, San Francisco - CA
AWARD and RESIDENCY
Adolf and Esther Gottlieb Foundation 2004
Vermont Studio Center - Residency 2006
COLLECTIONS
Cornell University, College of Veterinary Medicine Collection. Ithaca, N.Y.
Matthew Willey, NYC
Amy Kleisner, Walton NY
Roxbury Arts Group Roxbury, NY