Her generalized animal figures were like holy reliquaries containing the living spirits of the beasts they represented. --LA Times 1987
The Los Angeles-based artist Gwynn Murrill is best known for her sculptures in wood, marble and bronze of animals. Her practice has been rooted in the close study of the landscape’s inhabitants around her home as well as in photographs, memory, and imagination.
Murrill has been an exhibiting artist for over 40 years and won the Year in Review Award from the Americans for the Arts Public Art Network and other awards from the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Prix di Roma Fellowship.
SELECTED PUBLIC COMMISSIONS
The National Museum of Wildlife Art
U.S. Embassy, Singapore.
City of Brea, CA
City of Hope, Duarte, CA
City of Santa Monica, CA
Coldwater Canyon Park, City of Beverly Hills, CA
Harvard Westlake School, Studio City, CA
Home Savings of America, San Francisco, CA
Hyatt Regency Hotels, Tampa, FL
L.A. Fitness, The Ratkovich Company Development, Alhambra, CA Living Desert Museum, Palm Desert, CA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, CA
Media Studios North, Burbank, CA
Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, OR
Princess Hotel, Scottsdale, AZ
Rancho Tapo Community Park, Veterans Memorial, Simi Valley, CA Salt River Project, Phoenix, AZ
Security Pacific Bank, Los Angeles, CA
Trammel Crow Corporation, Minneapolis, MA
TransAmerica Corporation, San Francisco, CA
Wells Fargo Bank (prev. United Bank of Denver) Denver, CO
City of Hope, Duarte, CA
City of Santa Monica, CA
Coldwater Canyon Park, City of Beverly Hills, CA
Harvard Westlake School, Studio City, CA
Home Savings of America, San Francisco, CA
Hyatt Regency Hotels, Tampa, FL
L.A. Fitness, The Ratkovich Company Development, Alhambra, CA Living Desert Museum, Palm Desert, CA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, CA
Media Studios North, Burbank, CA
Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, OR
Princess Hotel, Scottsdale, AZ
Rancho Tapo Community Park, Veterans Memorial, Simi Valley, CA Salt River Project, Phoenix, AZ
Security Pacific Bank, Los Angeles, CA
Trammel Crow Corporation, Minneapolis, MA
TransAmerica Corporation, San Francisco, CA
Wells Fargo Bank (prev. United Bank of Denver) Denver, CO
PUBLIC COMMISSIONS
2008- San Francisco Zoo, San Francisco, CA
The Montana, MS Property Company, Pasadena, CA
The Montana, MS Property Company, Pasadena, CA
2006- West L.A. Animal Shelter, Los Angeles, CA
2004- Greater Toronto Airports Authority, Pearson Airport, Toronto 2003 Target Corporation, Minneapolis, MN
2002- San Francisco Zoo, San Francisco, CA
2001- City of Obihiro, Japan
2004- Greater Toronto Airports Authority, Pearson Airport, Toronto 2003 Target Corporation, Minneapolis, MN
2002- San Francisco Zoo, San Francisco, CA
2001- City of Obihiro, Japan
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, CA 1999 City of Obihiro, Japan
1996- Embassy of the United States of America, Singapore
1994- Palos Verdes Peninsula Library, Rolling Hills, CA
1993- Hugo Neuhaus Jr. Memorial Fountain, Mrs. Hugo Neuhaus, Heritage Park, Houston, TX 1992 Grand Hope Park, City of Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency (in collaboration with Lawrence Halpern, landscape artists), Los Angeles, CA
1994- Palos Verdes Peninsula Library, Rolling Hills, CA
1993- Hugo Neuhaus Jr. Memorial Fountain, Mrs. Hugo Neuhaus, Heritage Park, Houston, TX 1992 Grand Hope Park, City of Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency (in collaboration with Lawrence Halpern, landscape artists), Los Angeles, CA
1991- Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandizing, (in collaboration with Tony Berlant), Los Angeles, CA 1990 City of Culver City, Redevelopment Art Program, Culver City, CA, U.S. Bank Plaza, LPT Associates, Sacramento, CA
1989- Ronald Reagan State Building, State of California Arts Commission, Los Angeles, CA.
AWARDS
2009- Americans For the Arts, Public Art Network, Year in Review Award.
2007- Distinguished Woman Artist of the Year, The Fresno Museum’s Council of 100, Fresno, CA.
2002- Good Design Award, The Japan Institute For Design Promotion.
1986- John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship
1985- National Endowment Individual Artist Grant
1980- Prix di Roma Fellowship, American Academy in Rome
1978- New Talent Purchase Award, Los Angeles County Art Museum