Maura McGurk

Maura is currently an Artist-in-Residence at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and is working on an exhibition for the Museum of Motherhood in New York City. She has exhibited her paintings at various venues in New York, New England, and Italy.  One of Maura’s sketchbooks toured the United States and can be seen as part of the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Art Library.

She has received grants from Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Vermont Studio Center, and the city of New Bedford, Massachusetts, and was chosen as one of the Boston Young Contemporaries.  Her work is held in over sixty private collections in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East, and is displayed at various Boston-area corporations. She received her MFA in Painting from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.  Maura has taught art at various universities and colleges in the Northeast, as part of Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s SPARC program, and in summer programs in Italy.

Believing in art’s power to change the world, Maura’s current work supports LGBT youth by taking a stand against gay bullying. She has donated proceeds from sales of artwork to the It Gets Better Project, organized an art sale to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina, and donated artwork to causes such as the Gloria Steinem Art Auction, led by Ms. Steinem, in support of the Women’s Studies Program at UMass Dartmouth.

Selected Exhbitions

2012
Uncensored: Queer Art and the Church, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, New York, NY (upcoming)
Listen to Your Mother: Mothers Respond When Their Children Come Out as Gay, The Museum of Motherhood, New York, NY (upcoming)
Bound/Unbound: Sketchbooks by Alumni of The Swain School, Southeastern Massachusetts University, and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, New Bedford Art Museum, New Bedford, MA (co-curator; upcoming)
New Paintings, York College of Pennsylvania, York, PA (upcoming)
Mama Said: The Art and Artifacts of Wise Women, Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID

2011
You, Me, Us: Artwork in Response to Bullying, Jackson Hall Gallery, New York, NY
Lavender Menace: Paintings by Maura McGurk in Response to Gay Bullying, Wauregan Gallery, Norwich, CT
The Lincoln Orphans Show: Giving a Home to the Excluded Portraits, Wauregan Gallery, Norwich, CT
Women in Arts, Queens Museum of Art, Flushing, NY
Pride and Prejudice: An Exhibition on Gay Bullying, Sapphire Lounge, New York, NY

2010
The Sketchbook Project, Traveling Exhibition (Atlanta, Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, Los Angeles)

2009
Paint!, climate/gallery, Long Island City, NY
NEVER THINK small, climate/gallery, Long Island City, NY
The Small, Villa Gaia, Seggiano, Italy

2008
A Month in Sicily, Marion Art Center, Marion, MA

2007
Boston Young Contemporaries, 808 Gallery, Boston University, Boston, MA
Open Painting 2007, Providence Art Club, Providence, RI

2006
Arte Contemporanea, Galleria del Castello, Nocciano, Italy
College Art Association Regional M.F.A. Exhibition, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston
Large Paintings, Bristol Building, New Bedford, MA

2005
The Red Cross Show, Crapo Gallery, Star Store, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
CitySea, outdoor light and sound installation (collaboration), New Bedford, MA
Location/Relocation, Olympia Towers Gallery, New Bedford, MA

2003
June Salon, Gallery 402, New York, NY
Lasting Impressions, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT

Selected Awards and Grants

2010
Artist’s Grant and Residency, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT

2009
Featured Artist, Paint!, climate/gallery, Long Island City, NY
Featured Artist, NEVER THINK small, climate/gallery, Long Island City, NY

2005
AHA! Grant, with Adams Grant funding from the Massachusetts Cultural Council,  New Bedford, MA

Selected Publications

2011
At the Edge, “Featured Artist: Maura McGurk”, Summer 2011, pp. 83, 85
The Norwich Bulletin, Norwich, CT, “Gay bullying subject of artist’s exhibition in Norwich”, by Kelly-Ann Franklin
CTMuseumQuest.com, Norwich Arts Center Gallery: Welcome to the REAL Land of Lincoln, by Steven Wood
The Norwich Bulletin, Norwich, CT, Exiled artists in Norwich’s Lincoln contest given apologies, by Kelly-Ann Franklin
The Day, New London, CT, Lincoln artists cry foul, by Claire Bessette
The Art of Gina Marie Dunn, Thursday’s Other Creative Soul: Maura McGurk

2010
Anti-, Winter Volume, Cover art

2008
Southcoast247.com, The Makers: Maura McGurk, by Liz Tomasetti
The Standard Times, New Bedford, MA, Marion exhibit conveys profound sense of place, by Catherine Carter


Collections
The Brooklyn Art Library, Brooklyn, NY
The DeCordova Museum Corporate Loan Program, Lincoln, MA
Maura’s work is held in over sixty private collections in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East.

Education
Master of Fine Arts in Painting, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting, University of Connecticut, magna cum laude