Tim Murdoch
Tim Murdoch is an artist whose works range from hand-carved recycled polyethylene gas pipes to site-specific and kinetic installations. With a strong focus on repurposed materials and their impact, Tim’s work critically examines the meaning of “stuff” in the world, emphasizing ecological concerns and sustainability. He graduated from Montserrat College of Art in 1989 and received his MFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2003. He taught sculpture at Clark University in Worcester, MA, for 10 years and currently works at Palomar College. His work has been shown in galleries across the country and internationally. Tim has received numerous grants, including the Blanche E. Coleman Grant, the Berkshire Taconic Grant, and the Visual Arts Sea Grant from the University of Rhode Island. He has completed more than a dozen public art commissions. His work is in public collections in Boston, MA, and San Diego, CA, and engages communities by prompting discussions on ecological conservation and responsible material use. For instance, his installation ‘Tidal Flowers’ in Boston invited residents to contribute personal eco-stories and share their recycled plastics, which were incorporated into the floating flowers. His most recent works are explicitly environmentally conscious and dedicated to raising awareness of issues related to the welfare of a sustainable ecosystem.
Statement
I’m interested in both stretching the capabilities of inherent material properties and reclaiming natural, organic form from repurposed utilitarian objects such as pallets, recycled plastics, sand, and glass. My sculptures and installations show evidence of painstaking, meditative, hand-worked processes by which they’re made, yet often contain an element of unexpected humor or thoughtful intent, like a carnival stripe pattern or a mechanical finger tapping on the inside of a window. It is through these materials, juxtaposed with humor, that I explore the profound question of what separates self from other, bridging the material world and human experience. I try to push the limits of materials, but also the limits of the interface with those materials. I’ve utilized public storefronts to confront passersby with psychological questions, mined desert sands for ore to cast diamonds, and harnessed the power of the ocean’s tides to fuel a kinetic installation.
It’s this combination of materiality and the experiment of human-object interaction that piques my interest in public art as a human, relatable experience. The work is that of a controlled yet mutable landscape between object and viewer, coupled with the intense underlying question of what separates self from other. Through the use of repurposed, hand-worked materials, sprinkled with a touch of humor, my work exists as transformations, investigations, and aesthetic public environments.
My recent work focuses on the natural breakdown of the physical and on the ways we try to order and reorder our world. As humans, we form systems of categorization to develop hierarchies in an otherwise chaotic world. I wish to question and bring attention to the entropy apparent in human and natural systems. My practice recognizes the depletion of our natural resources and tends towards the use of bio-friendly processes and materials.
Selected Exhibitions
2025
Unknown Frontier, Techne Art Center, Oceanside, CA.
Draw Santiago Parelló, Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC), Santiago, Chile.
Dear LA, Love, SD., Fund Raiser for LA fire victims, goodgoodthings, Quint Gallery, La Jolla, CA.
Let’s Meet in the Middle, Solo Show, The Rose Art Gallery, Frances Parker School, San Diego, CA.
2024
After Burner, Techne Art Center, Oceanside, CA
All That Glitters, Sip Art Space, San Marcos, CA.
2023
Good Natured, San Diego Public Library, San Diego, CA
2022
Edges of Things, Solo Show, SWC Art Gallery, Southwestern College, Chula Vista, CA.
Walking the Wall, Park Social, San Diego Arts and Culture Commission, Performances – Fault Line Park, North Park, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA.
2021
Joshua Tree Highlands Artists Residency 15th Anniversary Show, San Bernardino County Museum of Art, Riverside, CA.
2020
Illumination, 21st Century Interactions with Art, Science, Technology, San Diego Institute of Art, San Diego, CA.
Port Spaces, Port of San Diego Commission, San Diego, CA.
2018
Recent Work, Richard Keely, Tim Murdoch, Dean Ramos, Griselda Rosas. City Gallery, City College, San Diego, CA
Ship Fest, A Ship in the Woods, Arts Festival, Escondido, CA.
Sensorium, Vanguard Culture, IDEA1, San Diego, CA.
2017
Baja Biennial, San Diego Art Institute, San Diego, CA.
Genius in the House, Mining Value “The Joshua Tree Diamonds”. Fleet Science Center, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA.
A Scientist and an Artist Walk into a Bar, A discussion on art and science with Uri Manor from The Salk Institute, Sponsored by the Fleet Science Center, San Diego, CA.
2016
Ripe, Boehm Gallery, San Marcos, CA.
(RE)FORMATIONS, JTAG Gallery, Joshua Tree, CA.
Can You Dig It, Plummer Park, West Hollywood, CA.
2015
San Diego Art Prize 2015, New Contemporaries VIII, Valencia Gallery, San Diego, CA.
2013
Carried Array, LA Jolla Athenaeum, LA Jolla, CA.
Very Comfortable, Solo Show, Boehm Gallery, Palomar College, San Marcos, CA.
25th Anniversary Rhode Island Sea Grant, University of Rhode Island, Kingston,RI.
2012
Emergence, Public Sculpture Commission, Constellation Center, Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA.
2011
Chain Letter Show, Sampson Projects, Boston, MA.
Wood, Higgins Art Gallery, Cape Cod Community College, West Barnstable, MA.
2010
Incidents and Reflections, Heidi Kayser and Tim Murdoch, Schiltkamp Gallery, Clark University, Worcester, MA.
Yellow Show, Boston Children’s Museum, Boston, MA
The New Media Curious: Experimental Moving Images Festival, Axiom Gallery, Jamaica Plain, MA.
2009
Tim Murdoch Installations, Solo Show, Gallery360, Northeastern University, Boston, MA.
See Wall, Solo Show, Fort Point Gallery, Boston, MA.
Fort Point of View, 119Gallery, Lowell, MA.
2008
Reused, Repurposed, Reinvented, BHCC Art Gallery, 250 New Rutherford Ave. Boston, MA.
Collision 1101: Super artificial, Axiom Center for New and Experimental Art, Jamaica Plain, MA.
Smaller is Better, Schiltkamp Gallery, Clark University, Worcester, MA.
2007
Evolving Form, Solo Show, Midway Theater, 15 Channel Center Street, Boston, MA.
Installation Project, Residency- Studio Soto, 63 Melcher Street, Boston, MA.
Visiting Sculptor, Boston Convention Center, 415 Summer Street, Boston, MA.
2006
Reverberation, Tim Murdoch and Jon Petro, Shiltkamp Gallery, Clark University, Worcester, MA
One is Better, Dam Stuhltrager Gallery, Brooklyn, NY.
2005
Inside Out, Sculpture and Installations by Tim Murdoch, Solo Show, Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA.
Sensations, Paintings by Deborah Davidson and Tim Murdoch, Schlosberg Gallery, Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA.
Visiting Artist, Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA.
2004
Faculty Exhibition, Schiltkamp Gallery, Clark University, Worcester, MA
Touch You, Avery Street Window Installations, Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Boston, MA.
2003
Touch Me, Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Boston, MA.
150X150″Mad Dash, Green Street Gallery, Jamaica Plain, MA.
The 14th Annual Benefit Art Auction, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA.
MFA Thesis Show, Stephen Paine Gallery, Massachusetts College of Art and Design,
Boston, MA.
Public Art
Park Social, San Diego Arts and Culture Commission, 2021.
Port Spaces Commission, Port of San Diego, CA 2020
Pipeline, A Ship and the Woods, Escondido, CA. 2019
Idea 1, Vanguard Culture, 899 Park Blvd, San Diego, CA. 2019
And The Tree Was Happy, Plummer Park, West Hollywood, CA. 2016
Emergence, Constellation Center, Cambridge, MA. 2012
Reflex, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA. 2011
Tidal Flowers, Fort Point Channel, Boston Harbor2010
Lifelines, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA. 2009
Midway Theater Installation, Midway Studios, Boston, MA. 2007
Touch Me, Touch You, Installations at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Boston, MA. 2005
Awards
Purchase award, San Diego Civic Art Collection
Artist-in-Residence, JTHAR, Joshua Tree, CA 2016
San Diego Art Prize, Nominee 2015
Washington State Arts Commission, Art in Public Places Shortlist 2013
Port of San Diego, Tideland 2, Finalist (defunded) 2013
Washington State Arts Commission, Oak Harbor High School, Shortlist 2013
San Diego International Airport Commission, Finalist 2013
Massachusetts Cultural Council, Finalist, Sculpture Installation 2011
Kennedy Biscuit Lofts Commission, Finalist 2010
Visual Arts Sea Grant, University of Rhode Island 2010
Friends of Fort Point Channel, Public Art Grant 2010
Appleton Mills Art Commission, Finalist 2010
Blanche E. Colman Grant 2009
Inaugural Atrium Sculpture Installation, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, 2009
Joan Mitchell Award, Nominee 2003
Berkshire Taconic Foundation, Artist Resource Trust Grant 2002
Liquitex Distinguished Art Award 1989
Yale Norfolk, Nominee 1988
Teaching
Clark University, Worcester, MA.
- Sculpture, Public Art, 3D Forms 2003-2012
Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA.
- Printmaking, Mixed Media, Senior Seminar, Painting.
Education
Massachusetts College of Art and Design, MFA.
L’Accademia Di Belle Arti, Viterbo, Italia.
Montserrat College of Art, 1985 – 1989
Collections
The City of San Diego, Civic Art Collection
Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Deloitte and Touche, Boston, MA.
Hale and Dorr, Washington D.C.
Centre Solutions, The Bahamas.
Various individual collections, national and international.
Tim Murdoch 