John Murray Montserrat Intensive Workshop

 

Immersion Studio Week with John Murray

At Montserrat School of Art.

Week of June 24-28, 2013

Stay at the college and work every day from 9-4

with artist, John Murray.

For details click on link below.

The link is http://montserrat.edu/continuing-ed/summer-workshops/index.php

John Murray week of Feb. 18, 2013

I hope you have a good vacation week.
I've uploaded a video that Mary Judge made from a poem of mine, "Picasso's Dream"
I hope it works. I hope you enjoy it.
See you the week of Feb. 25. john.

John Murray classes week of Feb.11, 2013

Next week let's celebrate Blues poetry and music in honor of Black History month.

Well, I've got stones in my passway 
And my road, it's black as night 
Yeah, I got stones in my passway 
And my road, it's black as night 
I got some pains in my heart 
And they're stealing my appetite 

Well, I got a bird to whistle 
I got a bird to sing 
Yes, I got a bird to whistle 
I got a bird to sing 
I got a woman that I'm lovin' 
But she don't mean a thing 

You trying to take my life 
All my money too 
I say to you lady 
What you trying to do? 
I say please, hey let us be friends 
You hear me howlin' in your passway, baby please let me in 

Well, I got three legs to walk on 
Baby, please don't block my road 
Yes, I got three legs to walk on 
Baby, please don't block my road 
-Stones In My Passway-R. Johnson 

Robert Johnson was a brilliant and tragic young bluesman from the Missiippi Delta cotton fields and juke joints of the sharecropper 1930's. 
He wrote and performed in the Black underclass culture of the racist American South and died from poisoning by a jealous husband and owner of a bar where he was performing in 1938.
Many myths have grown around the writing and guitar playing of Johnson and he has influenced generations of  musicians and poets with his compressed and exquisite work.
I'll play sound Johnson and other blues as well next week and see if it inspires some art for you.
See you next week, john. 

John Murray classes week of Feb 4, 2013

As Roberta Smith said about Outsider Art; "...with irrefutable proof that the most lasting work comes from unstoppable emotional necessity, an especially useful lesson for the moment."

How do you feel about your own work?
Next week let's try a piece that touches on a deep emotional issue for you.
It can be a painful way to work and in some ways negates my "painting is about paint" theses.

Of course it has to be about the plasticity and sense of the artist's hand (or the denial of that sense if you feel ironic about your emotional content and want a cooler feel).

See you next week, john.