What's Going On Here?
Art Bio
1979-1984 BA (1st Class) and MA Fine Art Sculpture, Manchester Polytechnic as a mature student.
1983-1992 Sculptural work on a domestic theme shown at e.g. Salford, Bluecoat, Cornerhouse, Scott, Rochdale, Young Contemporaries.
1987- Working collaboratively with Tea (Lynn Pilling, Peter Hatton, Jon Biddulph) on large scale, temporary, public art projects at locations including a ruined chemical industry site, environs of the Manchester Ship Canal, buildings associated with the cotton industry and the grounds of Orleans House. Commissioners included Tate Liverpool, Bluecoat, South Bank, The Whitworth, The Ferens, Widnes, Canal 2000, Richmond-on-Thames, LIFT and Artranspennine.
1990-2006 Senior Lecturer in Art and Place on the B.A. and M.A. Fine Art courses at University of Central Lancashire.
2020/21 Selected for the bOlder programme, Castlefield Gallery.
2023 - Member SPARK Network of artists in Greater Manchester concerned about the planet
Val Murray
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I have always been fascinated by the ordinary places, objects and activities which make up the world I inhabit. How do humans and their environments, natural and built, interact? What value do they put on them? Artists have a role as active witnesses. I am interested in Mabey, Tsing et al’s ideas of complex interrelations between species and survival in a ruined planet through 'wonderous attention' and 'creative curiosity'. To this I would add and ‘sometimes humour’! I document examples of Entanglements and ‘deep map’ interactions and agendas. The work is a starting point intending to direct the viewer’s attention to the world it refers to. By shifting focus I challenge more conventional ways of relating to our environments but aim to make tangential reference to human impact on the natural world rather than to ‘preach’.
Collage (2D and 3D), composition of different elements, the power of one thing juxtaposed with another, has always been at the core of my practice. My current work is a combination of sculptural interest in form and space with making photographs - their points of view. I am investigating the construction of the photographic image to see how it can represent the layered identity of the ordinary and extend its imaginative possibilities. I work in series so that works cross connect and narratives are extended.
Now I see my work as an artist as less about producing endless objects and images and more about using my skills to engage meaningfully with my environment. Thus my art work is integrated with my way of life and connections to my place as home lover, friend of my local woodland, coordinator of my local mapping group, member of the local green network, guardian of a garden and in my collaborative work with Tea, currently on a phytoremediation project.