La Petite Gallerie, an intimate Old Town Bluffton shop featuring local art, continues to introduce you to the gallery artists.
Murray Sease with a work in progress
This month the gallery is featuring Murray Sease, one of the original five La Petite Gallerie members. Murray has been involved in the local art scene for just over twelve years – beginning when she joined the Society of Bluffton Artists. Inspired and encouraged by so many talented local experts, it wasn’t long before she was ready to try her hand at painting professionally.
Long before that Murray fondly remembers painting walls and cabinets with her husband and son, as they decorated the family’s house with fantastic works of animals and marshes. This gave her the idea – and courage – to apply these skills to her work as a graphic designer, adding illustrations that added clarity and whimsy to her clients’ projects.
Now a staple of the Bluffton art community, Murray is doing what she loves – painting in oil on canvas the people, animals, and places representing who and what made her fall in love with the lowcountry.
Murray and her husband, Bill, recently made the short trek south
Marsh Pony Study 1
to learn and photograph the rich history of Cumberland Island in Georgia. The island and surrounding area has reinvigorated Murray’s love for painting the South, and she has every intention of continuing to explore regional areas to capture their essence on canvas.
Murray especially loves painting animals. A family connection with the Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue mission in Texas has inspired an ongoing series of paintings which she has committed to sharing a portion of all proceeds with the Rescue. It turns out donkey rescues exist, and are necessary, all over the world, including some right here in South Carolina. As she and many other local artists have ascertained, painting for worthy causes just gives extra purpose and meaning to a joyful pursuit.
Visit La Petite Gallerie to see Murray’s work as well as that of the six other gallery artists at 56 Calhoun Street in Bluffton. For more information please visit lapetitegallerie.com.
