Althea Murphy Price is a professional artist and printmaker living in Knoxville TN. As an artist, her work has been recognized for its nonconventional approach to the traditions of printing. Murphy-Price began her studies in Fine Art at Spelman College before receiving her Master of Arts in Printmaking and Painting from Purdue University and later studying at the Tyler School of Art, Temple University where she earned her Master of Fine Arts.
“Physical surface inspires much of my process, which encourages close observation, and solicits the desire for one to touch for a better understanding. I too seek to better understand ideas of feminine identity and beauty through my experiences as a member of a marginalized society. I use deception, desire and decoration to form questions on the topics of truth, fascination and attraction. Often, I have used manufactured hair (both synthetic and human) to exercise its role as embellishment and as signifier of racial identity. In this work, hair functions as both subject and material, and represents both assimilation and individuality. My work takes alternative approaches to the traditions of drawing, collage and sculpture. Often the linear structure of hair serves as a substitute for the drawn line, defining form, and contour to compose a visual surface that implies complexity.”