Gwynn Murrill

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Gwynn Murrill
Urban Curiosity
1993

Project Area: CBD/South Park
Project: Grand Hope Park
Project Location: Between Grand & Hope and 9th & Olympic
Project Type: CRA Initiated

Description:

Like apparitions of wildlife in the urban landscape, five life-size bronze sculptures of animals that are curiosities to urban life have made Grand Hope Park their natural habitat. The park is a recreational area that knits the public space of mixed-use institutions nearby. An oasis for contemplation, the park is sheltered from the workaday bustle of the Garment District in Downtown Los Angeles that lies just beyond its quiet walls.

Perched atop the pergola in front of the fountain at the park’s northern entrance is a bronze cast hawk whose regal silhouette against the sky belies its metal cast origins. On the smooth sand-colored expanse of the fountain slithers a formidable bronze cast snake caught in mid-movement. Closer to the clock tower in the opposite end of the park, a trio of full grown coyotes eternally frolic on the grassy lawn in front of the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising’s Design Gallery.

Artist Profile

Michigan-born artist Gwynn Murrill received her formal art training at the University of California, Los Angeles where she earned an MFA in 1972. Murrill’s bronze sculptures take on the subject of animals, domestic and wild, displayed in lyrical and natural poses. During her career, the artist has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Individual Artist Grant, and a Prix di Roma Fellowship. Significant commissions include the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandizing, Los Angeles; Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena; San Francisco Zoo; Target Corporation, Minneapolis; Pearson Airport, Toronto, Canada; and the Embassy of the United States of America, Singapore. The artist lives and works in Los Angeles.