Katty's Biography and CV


KATTY  MCMURRAY

 ‘Katty’s landscapes and seascapes are deceptively simple and serenely evocative’ – ‘Cool blue-greys and earthy shades infuse her work, even close to home she gives a fresh perspective’ – ‘The Latest’, Brighton

 

Katty McMurray was born in London in 1970. After graduating from the Chelsea School of Art in 1991 she moved to Brighton where she paints from her seafront studio. Over the last decade she has exhibited widely throughout the UK and her paintings have acquired a huge following.

 

Always a passionate traveller she draws inspiration from her travels – places such as Zanzibar, China, India, Italy and many parts of England and Scotland have been her subjects.

 

Katty’s work stems from her love of drawing. While away on location, she spends her time sketching; quickly and often using a single line, she records her immediate impressions of a place.

On returning to her studio, these drawings are used as a base for her larger paintings in oil on canvas, keeping the strong lines and using colours to recreate the atmosphere of the particular place.

 

Over the last few years Katty has had a series of successful solo and mixed shows, and continues to exhibit with galleries in London and around the UK, such as Lena Boyle Fine Art, Cambridge Contemporary Art, Ingo Fincke Gallery and The Fairfax Galleries.

 In April 2005 Cambridge Contemporary Art held her 10th major solo show.

 

Kattys work has been published as limited edition prints by Artizan Editions and CCA Galleries and in 1999 she was selected to be the Brighton Festival Poster artist. She has been commissioned for a painting on the Cunard Cruise Liner the ‘Queen Victoria’, and recently a series of paintings for ‘Harbour Way’ apartments by Bryant Homes.

 

She has also had cards and posters published by the Art Group and the Cannes Down Press.

 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

Cambridge Contemporary Art - April 2005

The Fairfax Gallery - September 2004

CCA Galleries, London - 2000, 2001
CCA Galleries, Farnham - 2001
Zella Gallery, Chelsea, London - 1997,1998
Open House, Brighton Festival - 1999,2000
The Pumphouse Gallery, Battersea Park, London - 1996,1998
Lyndons Fine Art, (Portobello Open Prizewinner, May 1997)
The Horsham Arts Centre, Horsham - 1995

SELECTED  MIXED EXHIBITIONS

Two Person show - Flying Colours Gallery, London - Lena Boyle Fine Art 2004

Art London - Lena Boyle Fine Art 2004, 2005

20/21st Century Show - Commonwealth Institute - 2003

The London Art Fair, Islington - 2005

Art on Paper, Royal College of Art - 2004, 2005

The Air gallery - 1998, 2003

Glasgow Art Fair - 2002, 2003

Artizan Editions, Curwen Gallery, London - 2003

The Fairfax Gallery - 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005

Lena Boyle Fine Art - 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005

Espace Auteuil, Paris - 2002

Two Kats and a Cow, Brighton - 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005

Cambridge Contemporary Art - 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005

CCA Galleries, Farnham - 2000, 2001, 2002

CCA Galleries, London - 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
Ingo Fincke and Son, London – 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005

Gallerina, Darlington – 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004

Hartworks, Dartmouth – 2002, 2003
 Zella Gallery, London - 1998, 1999
Pumphouse Gallery, London – 1997, 1998
The Star Gallery, Lewes, Sussex – 1996, 1998
Tabernacle Gallery, London - 1995
Riviera Gallery, Hastings - 1994

COMMISSIONS AND PUBLICATIONS
Series of paintings for Bryant, Shoreham-by-Sea 2005

Limited edition screen prints published by Artizan Editions – 1999/00/01/02/03/04

Limited edition screen prints published by CCA Galleries - 2000, 2001

Brighton Festival Poster - 1999

Commission for the Cunard Cruise Liner ‘Queen Victoria’ - 2004

Cards and Posters –The Art Group – 2001, The Cannes Down Press – 2003, 2005

Illustrated Children’s Books:For the Moon there is a Cloud, 1996, School Daze,1996, (Harper Collins)

                                              Dojen the Wanderer, 2004, If I was a Spider, 2004 (Network Press)