Kelly Sheppard Murray’s multimedia sculptural work fashions a wide range of polymorphic, multicolored structures that have their roots in natural forms. She draws from the shapes of plants, moss, lichen, fungi, shells and geological forms.
Murray’s output responds to her observation of urban development within her surroundings, where she sees the devastating human impact on nature. As a way of engaging the viewer to think about their fragile relationship with the environment, Murray’s sculptures made from cast-off industrial aluminum and layered encaustics transform the materials of construction into objects reminiscent of the natural world. Collecting hundreds upon hundreds of Curiosities, as she calls them, Murray slowly and deliberately assembles her pieces for installation—each one a unique building block within the visual language she articulates within her exhibitions. The process reflects Murray’s interest in how language shapes our understanding of the world. By developing her own malleable visual idiom, Murray expresses her great curiosity and invites that of her audience. Further, through her careful and patient work day-to-day, she reminds us how small steps can have a significant impact on both our perceptions of the world and our environment itself.