Aaron Murray

People Series In 1998 I began using soft linoleum to make relief prints. I soon discovered other carving surfaces such as soft rubber, and then wood. I've also used styrofoam, craft foam, and other surfaces. I also began making a lot more of the prints from wood. I worked at a wine warehouse for awhile and used to collect the wood from wine crates. It was usually a smooth soft pine. After pulling out the nails and staples it was ready to carve. The profiles I made were a

Grunge City is a current series of paintings based on interesting places in Portland and Seattle, particularly South of Jackson Street. I began in 2011 to replicate images based on real places that captured my interest.The series is an extension of work previously made from 2007-2009 and are also perhaps an evolution from the viaduct series executed in 1998-2002. This newer series of paintings reveal my growth as a painter, which has been an intermittent passion between k

In addition to making sculptures I enjoy making pots on a wheel. Lately I have made a series of cups, bowls, and vases with owls depicted on them in underglaze. The pots are made from clay bodies that fire at cone 6 and cone 10. At Alki Beach where I teach classes, we use clay and glazes that fire at cone 6, because we only have an electric kiln. I make pots from a porcelain body called ckk6, another yellow stoneware called Vashon White, a Vashon Brown, and a Kalama Red. So

For the last 6 years I have done pit firings each summer out in Kittitas County at Green Canyon. This year with the wildfires, I opted to stay in Seattle to fire my pit fired wares. I made a special set of pinched plates, and platters for the firing and burned them in my back yard. Pit Firing is a primitive firing process, where smoke and fire are recorded on the surface of a pot. No glaze is used,but the surface is made shiny by burnishing with a polished stone. I used colo

The importance of keeping a sketchbook or journal is essential to learning how to document the history of an artists work, and to reveal the planning and thought process involved in the act of creative thinking. Since 1988, I have used dozens of spiral and hardbound sketchbooks. College days This is a 3 part composition: background under foreground with a dove on top.... Trying to think outside the box.... I also use collage as a means of practicing composition(see above).

At my place of residence on Beacon Hill, I have for 3 years built and maintained a garden that features a variety of edible plants, decorative flowers, and sculptural forms.I had read of the benefits of gardening,of having a relationship with the things we eat, and I took an interest in learning how to grow as many vegetables as taste demanded. Since I am mostly a vegetarian, it was practically a no-brainer and I thought that if I mixed in my art I could create an interesting