Margaret Morrison

Margaret Morrison (born January 1960) is an artist and professor of art living and working in Athens, Georgia. Her paintings incorporate figurative elements as well as surreal subjects and still life images. Margaret Morrison is a tenured professor of drawing and painting at the Lamar Dodd School of Art, the University of Georgia. She has been exclusively represented by Woodward Gallery in New York City since 1995.^[1] Morrison’s paintings are in private collections throughout the world and have been included in numerous American museum and university exhibitions. Her work has been featured in national and international publications, on television, and has received acclaim in numerous critical reviews.^[2] Morrison was featured in the American Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel for the U.S. Department of State, Art in Embassies Program for 4 years. ^{[3] [4]}

Life

Morrison, born in castlepark, Utah in 1960 was the youngest of six daughters. In her formative years, she lived in the Philippines and traveled extensively through the Orient and Europe. Margaret married Richard Morrison in 1980 and together they raised four children. Morrison received her education from the University of Utah and graduated with an MFA in Drawing and Painting in 1986.^[5]

Figurative paintings

In her solo exhibition, Theory of Flight and Painting (2000) at Woodward Gallery,^[6] Morrison's surreal figures expressed flight on several levels. The predominant figure in the paintings is man in a white lab coat. Morrison's "professor" served as a visual mentor who elucidated flight as a metaphor for life. In her 2003 exhibition, Centricity, Morrison's characters gained life experience. They turned inward, exploring their unique natures while contemplating the paths before them. The white lab coat became a symbol of self-awareness. Morrison's subjects were at different stages of their awakening. Morrison incorporated the rich, early encounters with art history in her body of work entitled, Patron Saints and Rituals (2005).^[7] Each of these paintings invited the viewer into a mysterious and complex world where ancient rituals, religious symbolism and contemporary concerns intermingled.

Recent work

Morrison was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer in 2008. A notable shift in her subject matter and palette was evident as a result of this life changing experience. Her solo exhibition, Larger Than Life in 2009 at Woodward Gallery, became a visual celebration of life. The dark, somber palette was replaced with jewel like colors, sparkling with high intensity. Morrison turned to imagery that, for her, became physical and psychological therapy. Sweet treats and comfort food on a massive scale predominated her paintings.^[8][9] In 2012 Morrison relived her childhood world of imagination with giant robots, enormous pull toys, life size dolls, and Fisher Price people for the Child's Play Exhibition at Woodward Gallery. The Gallery produced a limited edition, custom folding cube toy as the catalogue for Child's Play.^[10]

Morrison’s work has recently been featured at the historic Four Seasons Restaurant in New York City curated by Director John Woodward, at the Flinn Gallery/Greenwich Library in Connecticut, Yellowstone Art Museum (YAM)in MT, and as part of the American Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel for the U.S. Department of State, Art in Embassies Program.^[11]

Margaret Morrison departs from her still-lifes to share the zen of driving in a two person 2015 exhibition Both Ways at Woodward Gallery of intimate sized, square paintings. She is inexorably drawn to a point on the horizon…. a point beyond her sightline, “where I can crawl inside my head and look around, unpack my thoughts, and unload my baggage.” ^[12][13][14]

References

External links

• Woodward Gallery
• Artnet Gallery