Deirdre Murphy, Night Watch

“I am large, I contain multitudes”

Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

As an artist, my paintings, prints, sculpture and public art are made with the attentiveness of a scientist, observing our natural world beyond the visible surface. My interest lies in the interconnected qualities of art and science, specifically the micro / macro patterns that reveal our connectedness; be it migratory avian flight patterns shared commonality with immigration routes, or how light pollution maps mirror viral molecular patterns, or aerial views of watershed systems that reveal vascular patterns. Through the act of creating, I am aware of being both infinitesimally minute and integrally part of a larger whole. It is this dichotomy, the vastness of these images that provide perspective to our humanity.

Residencies with scientists support the research that goes into my studio practice and enable a level of collaboration and interdisciplinary study that is only possible by working side by side in the laboratory. Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, Powdermill Nature Reserve / Bio Field Station for Avian Research / Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Lacawac / Bio field Station for Drexel University Environmental Science and Integral Molecular / University City Science Center gave me direct access to scientists, their laboratory experiments and data. Each residency culminates in projects such as, “Warbler Migration”, a permanent public art installation in Dublin, California; where migratory flight maps of the Orange Crowned Warbler, a threatened indigenous species , created a sculpture that speaks to my interest in conservation and environmental justice.

Through the act of making, I am simultaneously part of the diminutive matrix of nature and an observer of our capacious world. Visualizing the scientific data of flight maps and molecular structures become a language to describe my relationship to nature, to the inter-connected quality in our lives, illuminating a path to seeing the world anew. These works are metaphors to explore our humanity and hopefully engage dialogue that reflects our similarities rather than polarities.

Deirdre Murphy is a contemporary visual artist who decodes the interconnectivity that exists in art and science via the lens of biomorphic patterns, data visualization and climate change. Through the mediums of painting, printmaking and collaborative sculpture, she has explored the effects of climate change on avian migration, nesting structures and ecosystems. Her research has led to collaborations with scientists ranging from ornithologist, biologist, neuroscientist, molecular scientists and virologist from the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, Penn State, Lehigh University and Integral Molecular Laboratory. Artist residencies include Penn State University’s Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center, Winterthur Museum, Hawk Mountain Bird Sanctuary, Powdermill Nature Reserve and Drexel University’s Academy of Natural Science. Murphy has been the recipient of the Pennsylvania Council for the Arts, Percent for the Arts, Humanities Lab, Lehigh University and Leeway Grant. She has exhibited extensively in museums and galleries most notably Winterthur Museum, Zillman Art Museum, Palm Springs Museum, Biggs Museum of American Art, New Bedford Museum and Tacoma Art Museum and the Philadelphia International Airport.

Deirdre Murphy earned her MFA degree from the University of Pennsylvania and her BFA degree from the Kansas City Art Institute. Murphy is an Assistant Teaching Professor at Lehigh University where she teaches painting, printmaking and drawing. Her work is represented by Chimaera Gallery in Philadelphia and can be found at www.deirdremurphyart.com