Terry Turrell Biography

Terry Turrell

American

1946-

Biography

American sculptor and painter Terry Turrell was born in Spokane, WA, in 1946. Primarily self-taught, Turrell works with various original and found medias to create sculpture, paintings, and assemblages. He credits a creative family with inspiring his foray into art, as well as a mild bout of polio at the age of eight just one year before the vaccine became available in the U.S. He spent his sickbed days drawing and building toys from objects at hand.

Turrell traveled throughout the Pacific Northwest throughout his late teens and early twenties, supporting himself by selling handmade wares. Though he considered himself creative, he did not begin to pursue the fine arts until the mid 1980s. In 1989 he held his first exhibition, a solo show at the MIA Gallery in Seattle, WA, and has since exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout the U.S. and in Paris, France.

Selected solo exhibitions:
2017: Terry Turrell: the B-Sides, Mixed Media Paintings and Sculptures, Patricia Rovzar Gallery, Seattle, WA
2016: Torque, Patricia Rovzar Gallery
2015: Forever, Patricia Rovzar Gallery
2014: American Primitive Gallery, New York, NY; Grover/Thurston Gallery, Seattle, WA
2009: Cloud 9, Sue Greenwood Fine Art, Laguna Beach, CA; American Primitive Gallery; Outsider Art Fair, New York, NY
2008: Mason Murer Fine Art, Atlanta, GA; Grover/Thurston Gallery; Outsider Art Fair, NY; Marriage of Art, Science, and Philosophy, American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, MD; Century 21: Dealers Choice, Wright Exhibition Space, Seattle, WA; Center for Intuitive/Outsider Art, Chicago, IL
2007:
Galerie Lafor Openo, Paris France; Outsider Art Fair, NY; Sue Greenwood Fine Art; American Primitive Gallery
2006: Tanner Hill Gallery, Chattanooga, TN; Second Thoughts, Grover/Thurston Gallery, Seattle, WA; Recycled Art, Hallie Ford Museum, Portland, OR; 
Sue Greenwood Fine Art; Outsider Folk Art, NY; Mason Murer Fine Art
2005:
 Painting on Photography, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL; Sue Greenwood Fine Art; Outsider Art Fair, NY; Paintings and Sculpture, American Primitive Gallery; Center for Intuitive/Outsider Art
2004: Folk, Self-Taught, Outsider Art, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport; Dogs + Cats, American Primitive Gallery; Outsider Art Fair, NY; Center for Intuitive/Outsider Art; Sue Greenwood Fine Art; Faithful Companions, Grover/Thurston Gallery
2003: Grover/Thurston Gallery; American Primitive Gallery; Modern Primitive Gallery; Center for Intuitive/Outsider Art; Outsider Art Fair
2002: Susan Cummins Gallery, Mill Valley, CA; Art Miami, Miami, FL; In Good Company, Grover/Thurston Gallery; Good Intentions, Outsider Art Fair, NY
2001: Six Point Perspective, Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT; American Primitive Gallery; Modern Primitive Gallery; Outsider Art Fair, NY
2000: Rough Edges, Grover/Thurston Gallery; Token Gesture and Perches in the Sand, Susan Cummins Gallery; Modern Primitive Gallery; Outsider Art Fair, NY
1999: American Primitive Gallery, New York, NY; Small Works, the Sequel, Susan Cummins Gallery; Outsider Art Fair, NY
1998: Halfway In Between, Grover/Thurston Gallery; Ear To The Ground, Susan Cummins Gallery
1996: American Primitive Gallery; Shelter, Susan Cummins Gallery
1995: Sticks and Stones, MIA Gallery, Seattle, WA
1989: MIA Gallery solo exhibition

Selected collections:
Boise Art Museum
The American Visionary Museum
House of Blues
Microsoft Corporation