ISABELLE  MURRAY Artist

Isabelle Murray was born in Saguenay, Québec. Attracted by art and design, the artist moved to Bas-Saint-Laurent for her studies. After more than 20 years, she still lives there. It is in Rivière-du-Loup, near the St. Lawrence River, that she works, lives, and is inspired. She paints the St. Lawrence River; its light, its colours, and its great expanse. Strongly inspired by the beauty of the maritime landscape, the artist creates works that interpret the estuarine zone of the St. Lawrence River in contemporary art. Like abstract horizons turned towards the future, her creations are for her a way of establishing a point of contact with the richness and beauty of the river. The works are imbued with a spirit of balance and contemplation.  Coming from the world of graphic design, she began this series of works in 2008.

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September, 2013, saw her very first solo exhibition - Les Phares - at the Maison de la culture de Rivière-du-Loup.  Each of the paintings brings a light, a signal which guides us through a journey representing various facets of her perception of the river. With the collaboration of composer Jimmy Rouleau, the exhibition was enhanced by a sound experience.  In 2014, she realized  her second solo exhibition at the Microbrasserie Aux Fous Brassant in Rivière-du-Loup. She also participated in two group exhibitions at the Maison de la culture de Rivière-du-Loup in 2014 and 2015. In the summer of 2016, she exhibited at the Café Grains de folie in Trois-Pistoles. Some works were also left on consignment with Alexandre Motulsky-Falardeau in his temporary gallery located in  Quebec on rue Saint-Paul. In 2017, her exhibition entitled Estuaire was mounted at the Québec bistro Le Cloché penché during the summer, then at the restaurant Les Frères Toc. Also, Ici Télé viewers were able to see two of Isabelle’s original works integrated into the set of the 2017 television program, Les Chefs. In more recent years, the artist has explored combinations of softer and more organic colour schemes. Her signature continues to evolve in finesse and detail. She is interested in winter maritime landscape, and is creating a new series called Calme blanc, in collaboration with Mélusine. Over the years, several of her works have been selected and acquired by the Musée du Bas-Saint-Laurent for the museum's annual auction. Isabelle Murray has exhibited again several times in Trois-Pistoles, a place that is close to her heart.

 

The artist is now more than ever fascinated and inspired by the St. Lawrence River and its history. Following the rhythm of the seasons, she creates compositions in a unique and lasting style. Her contemporary and minimalist art exploits the horizontality, the play of light as well as the graphic side evoked by the great maritime expanses. Her signature can also be recognized by the combinations of colours that are sometimes saturated, sometimes more sober, with defined bands and expressive marks traced with a knife.

 

Several commissioned works have allowed her to express herself in a wide variety of canvass sizes, pushing her to master the fundamentals of her style, and ensure consistency and recognition, regardless of the size of the painting. For example, in 2021, she painted Matin d'octobre, a very small canvass measuring 24 by 18 inches. She followed that with Big River, a commission of 84 by 60 inches.

 

Today, Isabelle Murray continues her work and her research, developing her art at its own pace in her small studio in her ancestral residence; from where she can see and contemplate the river daily . Motivated and active, she continues her artistic journey and hopes to be able to disseminate her art through new exhibitions, and commissions from private art collectors.