Artist Biography

Laurie MacMurray is an abstract artist and landscape painter who works in acrylics and mixed media. Her interest in art began when she sat as a teenager in her father’s art studio. Her father was a self-taught watercolorist, who never traveled without a sketchbook. He taught her the basics of drawing, but more importantly, he taught her to be observant of people and nature, and to always carry a sketchbook wherever she went.

Laurie earned her Bachelor of Art in Journalism/Public Relations at the University of Southern California. After a career as an advertising executive and broadcast copywriter and producer, Laurie returned to her artistic roots. Leaving advertising behind, she became a Museum Educator at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena and began to study art, taking workshops at the Brentwood Art Center and the Los Angeles Figurative Art Academy.

Although she had a deep love of abstract and modernist art, her early works centered on figurative art and portraiture. Through portraiture, she learned to look deep into the lives of others to capture what made them tick. This led her to explore the effect multiple layers of paint had on both abstract and representational images.

Influenced by the works of Anselm Kiefer, Alberto Burri and the early California Impressionists, she shifted her focus to abstraction and a more modern approach to landscape painting. This shift has allowed her to paint with greater abandon and vigor and to explore a wider variety of textures. 

Her work has appeared in numerous group shows. A native Angeleno, Laurie lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.