Born in Baltimore, MD.

Margaret Murphy was born and raised in Baltimore, MD in an Irish Catholic family. She knew from an early age that social issues focusing on gender and class were topics she was interested in exploring and she has focused on these issues in her paintings and mixed media works throughout her art career.


Murphy has a BS degree from Towson University in Maryland with honors and she received her MFA in Painting from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University in 1992. Her paintings and mixed media works have been exhibited in solo and group shows internationally ever since. Selections include solo and group shows at Gallery Aferro, Real Art Ways, Pentimenti Gallery, HPGRP Gallery in NY and Tokyo, Jersey City Museum, Kustera Projects, Cheryl McGinnis Gallery, and Smack Mellon.


Murphy is the recipient of many professional awards. These include a Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant, two New Jersey State Arts Council Fellowships in Painting, two Puffin Foundation grants, a Change Inc award, a Pat Hern and Colin DeLand Foundation Grant, two Dodge Fondation fellowships to attend art residencies and residencies at the MacDowell Colony, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and Barstow Artist in residence at Central Michigan University to name a few.


Publications and literature include five reviews in The New York Times, New American Painting #63,  The Star Ledger, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Jersey Journal, and State of the Art – a half hour PBS program featuring prominent New Jersey artists. Online reviews include Two Coats of Paint, Hyperallergic, CAA Committee on Women in the Arts Picks, ArtInfo.com, John Haber art reviews, Fallon and Rosof Artblog, Art Fag City, and Park Place Magazine.
Murphy’s work is in the collection of Deutsche Bank, Jersey City Museum, Hudson County Community College Foundation, Deborah Buck and numerous private collections. 
In addition to her art practice Murphy is an accomplished curator. Curatorial projects Faculty and Friends of the Center for Visual Arts at Johns Hopkins University, Material Girls at the Visual Art Center of NJ, and many exhibitions in her garage in Jersey City from 2005-2008. 


Murphy is currently the Director of the Center for Visual Arts at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. She divides her time between Baltimore and New York.

Please see resume for complete listings of awards, exhibitions and publications.