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  • Current Exhibition: Level Influx

    Solo Exhibition | Thérèse​ Murdza
    Main floor gallery
    On view: April 21, 2025 - June 21, 2025
    Reception: April 25, 2025, 5:00-7:30pm
    Level Influx: Making Steady in Turbulent Times features Murdza’s signature bright, richly textured paintings, exploring interaction both visually and tactilely through paint and pencil markings on unstretched canvas and works on heavy paper. The pieces offer a variety of portals for ‘finding steady’ by gently guiding the viewer’s focus and perspective. In many of the works, Murdza incorporates a horizon line — inviting an element of intimacy with distance — and thoughtfully pairs selections to invite the viewer to encounter ‘places to land’ amidst an influx of juxtapositions, patterns, and colors...
    click the image to purchase
    • Works on Canvas
    • Works on Paper
    • Catalogues
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    Picture
    untitled 23-27

    Mixed media on canvas
    Art dimensions: 36" x 48"
    $4,300


    Picture
    untitled 23-28

    Mixed media on canvas
    Art dimensions: 36" x 48"
    $4,300


    Picture
    untitled 23-32

    Mixed media on canvas
    Art dimensions: 36" x 48"
    $4,300


    Picture
    untitled 23-25

    Mixed media on canvas
    Art dimensions: 60" x 36"
    $5,400


    Picture
    untitled 23-26

    Mixed media on canvas
    Art dimensions: 60" x 36"
    $5,400


    Picture
    untitled 23-36

    Mixed media on canvas
    Art dimensions: 60" x 36"
    $5,400


    Picture
    untitled 21-0412

    Mixed media on canvas
    Art dimensions: 30" x 30"
    $2,300
    Picture
    untitled 21-0408

    Mixed media on canvas
    Art dimensions: 30" x 48"
    $3,600
    Picture
    untitled 21-0409

    Mixed media on canvas
    Art dimensions: 30" x 48"
    $3,600
    Picture
    untitled 21-0404

    Mixed media on canvas
    Art dimensions: 28" x 24"
    $1,700
    Picture
    untitled 21-0405

    Mixed media on canvas
    Art dimensions: 28" x 24"
    $1,700
    Picture
    untitled 21-0406

    Mixed media on canvas
    Art dimensions: 28" x 24"
    $1,700
    Picture
    untitled 21-0407

    Mixed media on canvas
    Art dimensions: 28" x 24"
    $1,700
    Picture
    untitled 1119-01

    Mixed media on canvas
    Art dimensions: 46" x 54"
    $5,000
    Picture
    untitled 1119-03

    Mixed media on canvas
    Art dimensions: 42" x 54"
    $4,500
    Picture
    untitled 03-1909

    Mixed media on canvas
    Art dimensions: 20" x 16"
    $825
    Picture
    untitled 03-1912

    Mixed media on canvas
    Art dimensions: 20" x 16"
    $825
    Picture
    untitled 03-1910

    Mixed media on canvas
    Art dimensions: 20" x 16"
    $825
    Picture
    untitled 05-759 (let the rocks in the river remind you to remember)

    Mixed media on canvas
    Art dimensions: 48" x 42"
    $4,000
    Picture
    untitled 03-1831 (Enter Extend the Cosmos)

    Mixed media on canvas
    Art dimensions: 48" x 42"
    $4,000
    Picture
    Paper 20.03.46

    Mixed media on paper
    Art dimensions: 20" x 16"
    $550 Framed
    Picture
    Paper 20.03.55

    Mixed media on paper
    Art dimensions: 16" x 20"
    $550 Framed
    Picture
    Paper 2002.13

    Mixed media on paper
    Art dimensions: 22" x 30"
    $700
    Picture
    Paper 2002.14

    Mixed media on paper
    Art dimensions: 22" x 30"
    $700
    Picture
    Paper 2002.18

    Mixed media on paper
    Art dimensions: 22" x 30"
    $700
    Picture
    Paper 2002.19

    Mixed media on paper
    Art dimensions: 22" x 30"
    $700
    Picture
    Paper 2002.12

    Mixed media on paper
    Art dimensions: 22" x 30"
    $700
    Picture
    Paper 2002.11

    Mixed media on paper
    Art dimensions: 22" x 30"
    $950 Framed
    Picture
    Paper 20.03.12

    Mixed media on paper
    Art dimensions: 22" x 30"
    $700
    Picture
    Paper 20.03.31

    Mixed media on paper
    Art dimensions: 22" x 30"
    $700
    Picture
    Paper 20.03.30

    Mixed media on paper
    Art dimensions: 22" x 30"
    $700
    Picture
    Paper 20.03.11

    Mixed media on paper
    Art dimensions: 22" x 30"
    $700
    Picture
    Paper 20.03.15

    Mixed media on paper
    Art dimensions: 30" x 22"
    $700
    Picture
    Paper 20.03.16

    Mixed media on paper
    Art dimensions: 30" x 22"
    $700
    Picture
    Paper 1607.53

    Mixed media on paper
    Art dimensions: 30" x 22"
    $700
    Picture
    Paper 1608.07

    Mixed media on paper
    Art dimensions: 30" x 22"
    $700
    Picture
    Paper 1608.09

    Mixed media on paper
    Art dimensions: 30" x 22"
    $700
    Picture
    Paper 1703.40

    Mixed media on paper
    Art dimensions: 26" x 40"
    $1,200

    Picture
    Level Influx
    ​Thérèse Murdza

    Available to order on demand

    Paperback
    $36


    Picture
    Tell Me Everything
    ​Thérèse Murdza

    Available to order on demand

    Paperback
    $36


    Picture
    True Maps
    ​Thérèse Murdza

    Available to order on demand

    Paperback
    $36


    abstract, representational, expressionist, gestural, colorful, poetic, bright, geometric, playful, musical, rhythmic, meditative, healing, contemporary artist, patterned, textured, spatial
  • Biography
    Before Thérèse Murdza could tie her shoes, she learned to play a small accordion. She studied music at a Maryland public high school, and, in 1986, earned a BA degree in Theatre from Towson University, where she wrote and directed original plays. After school, Murdza published poetry in literary journals, and in subsequent years, reimagined her writing more directly as shape and line and color. In 2000, painting became her primary practice. 

    From her studio in Portland, Oregon, Murdza partners with design professionals, gallerists, and private clients throughout the US and beyond. Recent press highlights include interviews, mentions or features in Luxe Interiors + Design Magazine, The Oregonian, Portland Monthly, Oregon ArtsWatch, and as cover artist for Artslandia: Portland’s Performing Arts Annual.

    Murdza has shown her work continually in solo and group exhibitions since 2001 -- including with those in Iowa since 2004. Commissioned and seasonally released works on canvas and paper are held in commercial, residential, and museum collections across North America, including those in Boston, MA; Brooklyn, NY; Philadelphia, PA; Baltimore, MD; Rehoboth Beach, DE; Washington, DC; Durham, NC; Atlanta, GA; Chicago, IL; Northfield, MN; Cedar Rapids, IA; Grinnell, IA; Des Moines, IA; Omaha, NE; Baton Rouge, LA; Denver, CO; Boise, ID; Anchorage, AK; Portland, OR; San Francisco, CA; Oakland, CA; Los Angeles, CA.

    Thérèse has been a grant recipient, artist-in-residence, and has initiated independent study opportunities here and abroad. She has participated in arts-related educational activities throughout her career, and offers 1:1 mentoring sessions for emerging and established artists.
    Statement
    "Using shapes and colors inspired by synesthetic experience, I make paintings to engage and enliven people where we work, rest, and gather. Seeing sound, hearing words, feeling under language for a visual pulse -- my childhood musical training remains an influence, as do my years as a writer and meditator.
     
    Most of my work is made with matte paints and pencils, and is richly textured with fiber pastes and other mediums. I paint on relatively large (sometimes multi-paneled) works on canvas, and smaller works on canvas and paper. All canvases are assembled and hand-stretched by me with care and focus and muscle. I like the ease of simple shapes and lines on repeat, and I like movement that runs off the edge. My work is initially bold and generous and then, with changing light on the many layers of paint brushed and sanded, reveals and surprises over time.
     
    Painting is an honor and a calling and a practice. With real props to artists who show us the world is burning, my work hopes to remind us the world is also turning. I take to heart the province of an artist to install our work as part of the steady, sustaining weave of collective and deep encouragement."
    Video
    Coming Soon
    PRess

    Featured in Luxe Magazine
Gilded Pear Gallery
808 THIRD AVE. SE
​CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA 52403
319-366-0205
[email protected]
​[email protected]
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