Of her creative process, Muirhead says, “In creating a piece, I am motivated by the pursuit of beauty and an eventual resolution. Often, I incorporate texts that are personal narratives or transcriptions of actual experiences. As a piece progresses there is a revelation of intimate truth or aesthetic knowledge that allow me a respite from the past and the future”

Muirhead’s painting practice began over a decade ago and only recently began exhibiting her work with a poignant exhibition of work at Mariane Ibrahim Gallery in 2013. Since then, she has exhibited regularly and was awarded the 2018 Cornish College of Art’s prestigious Neddy Award in painting for her multi-layered panels of plaster, graphite and oil.

Muirhead lives and works in Seattle, WA with her husband and two children.

Muirhead begins with a canvas, paper or plywood surface and laboriously applies plaster, acrylic, oil, ink, paper and/or graphite layers. This process achieves a distinctly rich, subtle and shifting texture. The viewer senses the uncertainty and contradiction inherent in memory and framing, and Muirhead’s reluctance to commit to a definite and final moment. The physicality of the work reflects the visceral experiences of living. Pieces are often characterized by a sense of nostalgia or ethereal presence.

“I tend to begin pieces or series with questions and ideas that I’m considering, and they infuse the process in some way. I’m usually wrestling with ambivalence; ideas on maternity, race, family, internal tethers, language, constructs, freedom, exclusion… they are all continually informing my work. The process of mark-making is an act of inquiry for me. I am pursuing the clarity and unveiling of each piece’s truth.”

“The intricacies and anomalies that occur with persistent layering are deeply compelling. I love how the viewing is affected by the light, one’s mood, perspective and experience. I am interested in the tension, in life and in art, between change and permanence; and why we reject or internalize particular beliefs”.

2018 Neddy Artist Awards winner in Painting, Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, WA.