M. V. MORAN
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Thrive

Thriving After Stroke:
 Facing Challenges and Conquering Fears 
PRN Art Gallery
​Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend
Springfield, Oregon 
April 27, 2025 - June 27, 2025 

Thrive

5/13/2025

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The RiverBend Stroke Survivor and Caregiver Support Group, in honor of Stroke Awareness Month, has created 25 paintings illustrating what it means to thrive after stroke.  
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PRN Art Gallery
Springfield, Oregon
May & June 2025    

In honor of Stroke Awareness Month, the RiverBend Stroke Survivor and Caregiver Support Group created  a series of paintings that recognize the journey of stroke. This art exhibition was a year in the making and created out of the aftermath of individuals and families who have experience with stroke. Each piece is painted by either a stroke survivor, their personal caregiver (carer) or a member of the stroke team at Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend.

My mom had a stroke in 2010, and I was one of her carers. My journey with stroke, as a daughter of a stroke survivor, is what led me to the Stroke Program in June 2020. When I joined the Stroke Program during the height of the Covid pandemic, I was still wallowing in the uncertainty of who I was as a carer. Did I do a good job? What could I have done differently? I was hired to facilitate the RiverBend Stroke Survivor and Caregiver Support Group and the big catch; we couldn’t meet in person. We started meeting on Zoom and with a few technical hiccups and much patience and humor our group persevered. During those months of meeting via screens I realized I was meeting some of the strongest people I will ever meet. These are folks who have spent many days in confusion and fear and came out stronger. I didn’t know how to say this  without sounding flippant. As an artist, I communicate visually with color, shape and composition. In that understanding an idea formed, inviting the group to create work. I wanted to share the excitement and power of a  group art exhibition. I wanted to bring the power of art to them. And I wanted to thank each person in the group for making me see that even after something terrible has happened, they overcame unbelievable obstacles. I see them thriving, facing challenges and conquering fears. I hope these words do not sound like a sound bite or something people just say. I believe in the strength of these survivors. I believe in the love of their carers and I know they are conquering fears every single day. This art exhibition is dedicated to some of the strongest people I have ever met and most likely will ever meet.​

M. V. Moran earned her MFA in Visual Studies from Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon. Moran has a BFA in Painting from the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon. Moran has exhibited prolifically throughout the Pacific Northwest. Moran works at Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in the Stroke Program, an Artist-in-Residence for the Lane Arts Council, a faculty member at Lane Community College and has taught at Bushnell University in Eugene, Oregon. Moran is a lifelong Oregonian and has been an Eugenian for the past thirty years.

The exhibition was organized by M. V. Moran, curated by Susan Detroy, supported by PeaceHealth and Art Heals at the  Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon.

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Bad Air in Eugene

2/1/2025

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Seen: A Regional Figurative Exhibit
Maude Kerns Art Center
Eugene, Oregon
February 21, 2025 - March 21, 2025
Opening Reception
February 21
5 pm - 7 pm


​The smallest triptych of the Bad Air series has been selected to exhibit as part of the Seen Exhibition at Maude Kerns Art Center in Eugene, Oregon. The exhibit highlights figurative work of 54 artists whose work explores the human figure to tell a story. 

Bad Air consists of nine large charcoal drawings and is a continuation of the triptych, ​Big Girls. Each piece portrays a solitary female figure. Each woman is isolated in her own space. This work is about the trials of 2020. This work is also an examination of all the bad stuff we have all been breathing for years. ​These nine large women show the effects of negativity with their facial expression and awkward posture. They are isolated and frustrated.

My body, again, was used as the model for this work. This work was created during the time of Covid, the Oregon wildfires and social unrest. This work was made for the Coos Art Museum, specifically for the Vaughn Gallery. Location is an important part of my research. The space in which my work dwells is part of the process. I visited the museum, the City of Coos Bay, and Sunset Beach. I modeled on the beach and the surrounding areas. I was exhausted when I arrived. The photoshoot felt like an encapsulation of the trials of 2020. At first, I was disappointed with the images. However, I began to understand that my exhaustion had to be part of the work. Covid and other chaos of 2020 had affected me in ways I had not fully processed. It took me seeing images of myself, so unbelievably spent, to truly understand how to move forward with these nine women.

When I returned to my studio, I knew I wanted the work to be about the year we have all experienced. At the same time, I knew the work had to be a continuation of ​Big Girls i​ n order for the work to share space in the Coos Art Museum. The Oregon fires were raging, filling the valley where I live with smoke. Apocalyptic smoke. It was hard to think, let alone create. All over the news were warnings about breathing the toxic air. The bad air felt like a metaphor for the toxic atmosphere of our culture. I have been breathing the bad air of hypocrisy and lies. Sexism and racism hang over our country like a toxic cloud. This work confronts the bad air of societal injustices. Each piece illustrates an immediate reaction to the negativity of long term hardships and faulty constructs.
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The drawings reference various sources that include direct observation and photographs of my body. Three major influences for this work are Lisa Yuskavage, John Currin and Fernando Botero. The work takes on the abstraction and absurdity of Lisa Yuskavage and John Currin, while embracing the bigness of Botero.

M. V. Moran earned her MFA in Visual Studies from Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon. Moran has a BFA in Painting from the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon. Moran has taught as an Adjunct Professor of Art at Bushnell University in Eugene, Oregon and currently, is an Artist-in-Residence for the Lane Arts Council.

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In the Time of Covid and Palm Springs

7/4/2024

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Works in Progress
I am currently working on two bodies of work, In the Time of Covid and Palm Springs. Both series contain elements of my anxious circles-despondent spheres paintings. Both rely on the circle to represent feelings, emotions and the contradictions of dwelling in place. In the Time of Covid works also incorporate large figurative pieces. Again, I am the model, similar to my triptych, Big Girls and the nine-pieces of Bad Air. 

My five foot frame extends to cover the seven foot tall panel, standing adhered as though a watchful mother. I am full of cautionary tales and whoas. I am an angry woman in this work. I am angry at ill behaving men running around the country as if fighting for good. But, who can fight a virus with fists and flags? I’m angry that a lovely woman I know has died because of the virus or has she died because of the men? I’m unsure. In all this chaos, I stand firm and alone. 

Then, there is Palm Springs. My Palm Springs series consists of six paintings full of color and fat shapes, fat with love. I have been to the city of Palm Springs, nestled in the Coachella Valley, twice now. That dry desert town with its golden sand and blue pools contains the ongoing vibe of the crooner. You can’t help but listen to Frank Sinatra in your car. I love the dry air and ease of the small city. The uptown and downtown parts of Palm Springs are walkable. On your way to the Palm Springs Art Museum, a gargantuan Marily Monroe with a flirty smile and upturned dress invites you to stop and say Hello. Everyone does. She is the muse and the mistress of that pedestrian block. All my irritation and irritability of the past Covid years seemed to dissipate in Palm Springs. The heat killed the annoyance of past grudges and replaced it with something that felt like forgiveness. I’m not sure who I forgave when I walked in the desert or where all that anger went. Maybe anger and grudges cannot live in the desert, and for me, that is good. 


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Three Shows in Three Cities

11/9/2023

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This Fall three M. V. Moran paintings are part of three separate exhibits in Oregon. 
The exhibitions are located in Roseburg, Eugene and Portland. 
The melancholic painting, three, from the stained glass disappointment series is exhibited at Umpqua Valley Arts in Roseburg, Oregon from November 7th - December 15th. 

The luscious painting, Went to the Desert, from the Palm Spring series is part of the group show at Maude Kerns Art Center in Eugene, Oregon from November 15th - December 17th.

The curvaceous, Us, from the stained glass disappointment series is exhibited at PNCA in the Alumni Show, UNLIMITED. This is the sixth Annual PNCA Alumni Salon Exhibition on view at the Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Center for Art and Design from October 5th - November 11th.
Image: three, acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 24"x48", 2023. 
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Big Girls in Rogue

7/23/2023

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Rogue Gallery and Art Center
 40 South Bartlett Street
Medford, Oregon 97501

August 11 - September 22, 2023

Artist Reception
Friday, August 18th
5:30 pm - 8 pm 


​Big Girls in Rogue includes the large triptych, Big Girls, the nine pieces of Bad Air and The Three Ladies. This exhibition includes five triptychs, each set relies on the three women to convey their particular story. Big Girls is about confronting and exposing the negative response to conformity. While Bad Air is about the body's negative response to the toxic exposure to hypocrisy. The Three Ladies are stuck in the dismay of isolation. While each body of work may seem different in concepts, what they have in common is me. 

Each piece is a self-portrait. I am both the model and muse for each drawing. In some of the pieces I am fat and disappointed, while in other drawings I am stoic and despondent. But no matter the expression or mark on the page, each woman is me, the artist. This work is not about ego or some egotistical search, rather these pieces are a diary for me. I don’t keep a diary, I have no interest in someone finding my writings about my life or what I really think about them. The fictional character, Bridget Jones, stated to Mr. Darcy, “It’s only a diary. Everyone knows diaries are full of crap.” She ain't wrong. So these drawings are as much of a diary I can keep. This diary hides much of what I really think, but enough to connect with others. I have been amazed with how some viewers see the work. Some see the disappointment I’m trying to convey, while others see a strength that I didn’t know even existed in the work. There is a shared experience when I talk with others about these pieces. Some folks are disappointed in life, while others have this intangible hope in the future. I like discussing what others see in my work, I like this connection and sense of belonging. 

​All the drawings reference various sources that include direct observation and photographs of my body. The major influences for all of these works are Lisa Yuskavage, John Currin, Jim Dine and Fernando Botero. The cartoonish quality of each woman is the inspiration of Lisa Yuskavage and John Currin. Fernando Botero’s work, especially his large sculptures, inspired the thickness of the bodies and the curvature of the line. While Jim Dine was the catalyst for continuing to draw big with charcoal. 

M. V. Moran earned her MFA in Visual Studies from Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon. Moran has a BFA in Painting from the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon. After several years of working at the UO in Student Services, she resigned from her position and began her dream of becoming a professional artist. Moran has exhibited prolifically throughout the Pacific Northwest. In 2020, the Big Girls and Bad Air series exhibited in a solo exhibition at Coos Art Museum. Moran is also an Artist-in-Residence for the Lane Arts Council and has taught at Bushnell University in Eugene, Oregon.
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  • Home
  • Portfolio
    • Big Girls
    • Just Us Three
    • Truth
    • Secondhand Melancholy
    • Truth Continues
    • anxious circles-despondent spheres
    • peculiar
    • Ongoing
    • Primarily
    • The Three Ladies of Despondent
    • Bad Air
  • About
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