Plymouth State University

Plymouth, N.H.—Erin Murray, an MFA in painting graduate of the University of New Hampshire (UNH), will discuss her recent works at Plymouth State University April 6.

She will present an informal discussion in the Collins Gallery, second floor of the D&M Building on North Main Street from 3:30¬–4:30 p.m., followed by a formal talk from 6:30–7:30 p.m. in D&M room 314. A reception will follow.

Murray says the narrative of her work content directly reflects issues she believes we, as a society, mask and avoid. She hopes her work will speak to a diverse population of viewers.

Her paintings are about women. She says they are about the rituals we create and perpetuate. They are about artifice and reality. They magnify an imaginary world that is more than a parallel to our own—it is our world, without blindfolds, she says.

“In this world, we, as women, are bound to our roles as vessels for children. Overwhelmed by having no creative outlet in our own lives, we vicariously twirl our daughters into the beginning of a dance. It is a dance every girl has done before. It is a dance we ourselves were asked to do as a child. The daughters dance. We fill roles. We squeeze in to skin-tight leotards and are asked to conform in body and mind. We practice and repeat. We train ourselves and quickly learn to accept the truth about what girls are. We help each other to participate in the swirling dance…

Then the babies come. The babies are the ultimate prize. Once girl dancers, we are now women dancers with children in-tow. Laden with babies in satchels and babies in slings across our bodies, we drag along babies on leashes and push along babies in strollers. This is the ultimate dance. The mother-child dance. The lumbering brides and babies swirl together in a magnificent dance our mothers would be proud of. We fatten the children with pride and hope and promises that they too can be whatever they want when they grow up.

Murray has taught at the University of New Hampshire, at a UNH course in Ascoli Piceno, Italy, at the Children’s Art Network in Staunton, Va. and at the P. Buckley Moss Foundation for Children’s Education in Waynesboro, Va.

Murray curated “Close Associations” in 2009, the MFA Invitational Exhibition at UNH; and she has participated in multiple exhibitions in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Her visit at Plymouth State is hosted by the Women’s Studies Council, PSU Department of Art, the Art Club and the Sexuality, Anti-Violence, Gender and Equity (SAGE) organization.

For information contact Professor Ann McClellan at (603) 535-2683 or send e-mail to akmcclellan@plymouth.edu.

General information about events at PSU is online at ThisWeek@PSU, http://thisweek.blogs.plymouth.edu.