Maura McGurk paints in a warm, organic abstraction. The abstract format provides freedom to use color, texture, and found objects to tell stories. Recently, Maura’s work has begun to feature gold leaf, influenced by Italy’s churches and artistic history.

Her work can be seen at the Museum of Motherhood in St. Augustine, FL and The Brooklyn Art Library.

She received her B.F.A from the University of Connecticut, and her M.F.A. from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Her studio is located in a former beer bottling plant in Seattle. In addition to her studio work, Maura also creates websites. 

 

CV

Solo Exhbitions
2019 Reclaiming Butterscotch, The Summit, Seattle, WA
2016 The Oak and the Cypress, Knutzen Family Theatre Gallery, Federal Way, WA
2013 Re•Place: Collages by Maura McGurk,Majestic ARTS Presents, Seattle, WA
2011 Lavender Menace: Paintings by Maura McGurk in Response to Gay Bullying, Wauregan Gallery, Norwich, CT

Selected Group Exhbitions
2016 
Arts Alive, Federal Way City Hall, Federal Way, WA
Art for Orlando, First Covenant Church, Summit Art Gallery, Seattle, WA

2015 
Arts Alive, Federal Way City Hall, Federal Way, WA

2013 
Music and the Muse, Avanti Art & Design, Seattle, WA

2012
Uncensored: Queer Art and the Church, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, The Annex, New York, NY
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
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 (solo)

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

Selected Awards and Grants

2016
People’s Choice Award, Arts Alive exhibition, Federal Way, WA

2015
People’s Choice Award, Arts Alive exhibition, Federal Way, WA

2012
SPARC (Seniors Partnering with Artists Citywide) Grant, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York, NY

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

2019
Why I Never Finished My Dissertation, Laura Foley, book cover

2013

The Lavender Review, Issue 7, Reproduction

2011
Broadway Sings for Pride, album cover
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 Museum of Motherhood, St. Augustine, FL
The Brooklyn Art Library, Brooklyn, NY
The DeCordova Museum Corporate Loan Program, Lincoln, MA

Maura’s work is held in over seventy private collections in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East.

Education
M.F.A. in Painting, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
B.F.A. in Painting, University of Connecticut, magna cum laude
B.A. in Spanish and Portuguese, University of California, Berkeley, with Honor