Statement
I paint from imagination, even though the final image always resembles the “real” world in a
general way. For me a painting always begins from inside, an intuition of how I might distill simple motifs like trees or a repeated pattern of railroad ties into something fresh. This encourages me to work with abstract and representational elements at the same time. A freight car is an efficient conveyor of goods, but also an interesting arrangement of shapes and colors, something with a potential for visual poetry. As the Italian still-life painter Giorgio Morandi said, “There is nothing more surreal and abstract than reality.”
An artist’s poetic insight is developed mostly by working, but also by looking at other art, and by
staying with the question: what is it that only painting can do, or that painting does best? In a
sense all painting is still life—silent, but alive on its own terms.
I taught art history along with studio courses for many years. That record of the heights of human
accomplishment can provide some perspective on the anxieties of our moment. From it most
artists evolve their own private pantheons—those who call us to go further than we thought we
could. I often go back to Morandi’s extraordinary etchings. Or to Braque’s late work. Braque
wasn’t afraid to make brutally ugly paintings, which allowed him to make elegant ones.
Biography
- 1962 A.B. Princeton University.
- 1968 B.F.A. Boston University.
- 1969 Max Beckmann Fellowship, Brooklyn Museum Art School.
- 1971 M.F.A. Queens College.
- 1969—1970 Instructor of Drawing, Exeter Summer School.
- 1969—1971 Instructor of Drawing and Painting, Brooklyn Museum Art School High School Program.
- 1972—2004 Chair, Visual Arts, Bancroft School, Worcester, MA.
- 1973—1985 Instructor of Drawing and Painting, Education. Division and School of the Worcester Art Museum.
- 1981—1982 Lecturer in Fine Arts, Assumption College.
- 1985–2002: Instructor of Drawing and Painting, Grad. and Continuing Ed., Assumption College
- 1989–2003: Instructor of History of Art and Foundation Drawing, Pre-College Program, Rhode Island School of Design.
- 2012— Volunteer Instructor, Coastal College
Exhibitions
- 2023 Earth, Water, Sky, juried group show, Riverarts, Damariscotta, Maine
- 2023 New Work, juried group show, River Arts Damariscotta
- 2023 Generations Exhibit, 65th Anniversary, Maine Art Gallery
- 2023 Light and Dark, group show at River Arts
- 2022 Group exhibition, George Marshall Store Gallery
- 2022 Solo exhibition, River Arts
- 2021 Juried group show at River Arts
- 2021 Art In Maine juried group show. First Prize
- 2021 “Contemporary Realism,” juried group show, Maine Art Gallery, Wiscasset
- 2021 “Land and Sea,” juried group show, River Arts, Damariscotta, Maine
- 2020 10th Portland Biennale, Greenhut Gallery
- 2020, juror, “Artist’s Choice, Riverarts, Damariscotta, Maine
- 2019 Solo Exhibition, Central Lincoln County YMCA
- 2019 Solo Exhibition, The Yellow Barn, Rockland, Maine
- 2018 “When Will We Ever Learn?,” group exhibition, Yvette Torres Fine Art,Rockland, ME
- 2017 “Take Flight,” group exhibition, George Marshall Gallery, York, ME
- 2017 Rocks ‘n Waves, Kefauver Gallery, Damariscotta, ME
- 2016 Curator’s Selection (group show) George Marshall Gallery, York, ME
- 2016 Maine: A Continuum of Place, Penobscot Marine Museum, Searsport, ME
- 2016 Group show, Open Spaces: Reimagining Pastoral Maine, L.C. Bates Museum, Fairfield, ME
- 2016 Faces and Figures juried group show, Riverarts Gallery, Damariscotta, ME
- 2015 Group show, Gallery Artists, Yvette Torres Fine Arts, Rockland, ME
- 2015 Rhode Island School of Design Alum and Faculty Show, Gallery 253, Boothbay, ME
- 2015 Portraits, Solo show, Sotheby’s, 170 Main St. Damariscotta, ME
- 2014 Faces and Figures, Juried Exhibition, Riverarts Gallery, Damariscotta, ME
- 2014 Boston University Alumni Juried Exhibition, Boston, MA
- 2014 Solo Show, Gallery 2, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
- 2013 First Prize, Boothbay Region Art Foundation Juried Exhibition
- 2013 Group exhibition, Visions of the River, Round Top, Damariscotta, ME.
- 2012 Solo exhibition, Yvette Torres Fine Arts, Rockland, ME
- 2010 Three person group exhibition, “Environments,” Lamont Art Gallery, Exeter Academy.
- 2008 Solo show, Paintings 2005-2008, Gallery 170, Damariscotta Mills, ME.
- 2008 Juried Group exhibition, “The Boat Show,” Studio Place Arts, Barre, VT.
- 2007 Two person exhibition with Sam Thurston, Helen Day Art Center, Stowe, VT.
- 2006 Juried Group Exhibition, Shelburne Farms, Shelburne, VT.
- 2005 Exhibition of 9 Large Paintings, Gallery 170, Damariscotta, ME.
- 2003 Solo Show, Portraits and Passages, Bancroft School, Worcester, MA.
- 2002 Juried exhibition, Re:Semblance-Contemporary Portraiture, Arts Worcester Gallery.
- 2002 New Work/Older Work, Arts Worcester Gallery, Quinsigamond College, Worcester, MA.
- 2002 Group Shows, Greene Gallery, Guilford, CT.
- 2000 Paintings and drawings, 1966-2000, Round Top Center for the Arts, Damariscotta, ME.
- 1999 Rice Gallery, Bancroft School, Worcester, MA.
- 1990-1998 Faculty Shows, Rhode Island School of Design.
- 1995 Juried Alumni Drawing Show, Boston University.
- 1993 Rice Gallery, Bancroft School, Worcester, MA.
- 1978–1990 Group Shows, Kennedy Galleries, 40 West 57th St., N.Y.C.
- 1984 ‘Urban Light and Geometry,’ Holy Cross College, Worcester.
- 1983 Cultural Assembly Invitational, Worcester.
- 1978 ‘A Sense of Place,’ Thorne Gallery, Keene St. College, Keene, NH.
- 1977 The Worcester Open, Worcester Art Museum.
- 1976 Solo Show, Brooks School Gallery, Andover, MA.
- 1975 ‘Four Figurative Painters,’ Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA.
- 1975 Solo Show, Tyler Gallery, Marlboro College, Marlboro, VT.
- 1973 ‘Five Painters,’ Berkshire Art Museum, Pittsfield, MA.
- 1971 ‘Three Object Painters,’ Lamont Gallery, Exeter Academy.
Books
Myers, Living Beyond War: A Citizen’s Guide, Orbis Press, 2009.
Myers et al, “Walter Tandy Murch: Paintings and Drawings 1925—1967,” Rizzoli, Sept 2021
Catalogs
“Passages,” catalog for solo exhibition at Yvette Torres Fine Arts, Rockland, 2012.
“Alumni Drawings,” Boston University, 1995.
“Sixty American Paintings,” catalog, Kennedy Galleries, April 1980.
“Four Figurative Painters,” catalog, Fitchburg Art Museum, 1975.
“Three Object Painters,” catalog, Lamont Gallery, April 1971.
MFA Thesis Exhibition, Queens College.
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