If one were to gather all of Gwynn Murrill’s sculptures together, the collection would resemble a menagerie of beautiful abstract animals. Murrill’s incredible talent enables her to portray the essence of her subject without having to rely on specificity. Murrill works in stone, wood, and bronze and her method is the same in all three mediums: she carves away from a slab of stone or a chunk of wood or, in the case of bronze, a block of foam. While the features may be minimal, the pose of each animal or bird is emblematic of that creature’s nature. There is no doubt about the animal portrayed. When grouped, each animal relates to the next by attitude or placement. Movement is implied, as if each figure were caught frozen in a moment in time by a camera, about to slink or steal or creep away in an instant. The silhouettes resemble sinuous draftsmanship. Mysteriously, Murrill’s stylized characterizations heighten each creature’s fundamental nature with a new level of reality and lifelike quality. Gwynn Murrill was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1942. Raised in southern California, she received her BA and MFA degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles. Although she primarily studied painting, the same year she received her MFA, she had a one-person exhibition of her sculpture at the Rico Mizuno Gallery. Since that time, she has concentrated on three-dimensional work, focusing on the animal kingdom as her subject matter. She has received many honors during her career, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Prix di Roma from the American Academy in Rome, and a purchase award from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the 2009 Public Art Network Year in Review Award. Murrill’s work is included in private and public collections throughout the world. More information on this artist can be found at
http://www.murrillsculpture.com/ | | 
Tiger 4, 2001
bronze, edition 1/6
57" x 76" x 21"
Courtesy of the Artist |
