Myrtle von Damitz, III was born in Syracuse, NY in 1975, and raised in Buffalo and in rural Vermont. Her family moved to California when she was 15 and after high school she settled in San Francisco. After some travel and hemming and hawing she decided on an impulse that New Orleans was the last place she could possibly enjoy living in, and settled there permanently in December, 1998, vowing to eat rice and beans every day if that's what it took to become a full-time artist.
Although she has developed her own version of a language in painting, using inks and acrylics in a self-taught style, she does not consider herself an "outsider" or "visionary" artist. Rather, she sees her work as that in keeping with anachronistic forms of storytelling and as a style of literature, an exposition of the subconscious world which she is happy to leave to the interpretation of the viewer. She now lives and works in an idyllic shack mansion nestled between the levees of the Industrial Canal and the Mississippi River.
Myrtle Von Damitz lll
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Solo Exhibitions (Barrister’s Gallery):
2007 “I’m Running Out of Coffee and it Tastes Like Onions.”
2004 “Other Voices, Other Rooms.”
2001 “Gathering Evidence.”
Group Shows (in New Orleans):
2009 Artists of St. Claude Ave., Studio at Colton
2008 St. Claude Collective, New Orleans Biennial Prospect 1 exhibition at Universal Furniture curated by
Andy Antippas, in conjunction with P1 artists Pierre et Gilles.
2005 Palma Gallery: “The Hybrid,” curated by Matteo Neivert.
2001 Barrister’s Gallery: “Exploring Assemblage in New Orleans,” curated by Christopher Fischer.
2000 Barrister’s Gallery: “Labyrinths: 11 emerging women artists in New Orleans.”
2000 Jonathan Ferrara Gallery: “No Dead Artists,“ annual juried exhibition.
Other Projects, Galleries, and Commissions:
2009 December, 2009, Upcoming, co-curator, Automatamania, multi-venue exhibition of automata installations, New Orleans
curator, "Antiabecedarians, Telekenisis Proxenators in Franca Langua," Barrister's Gallery, New Orleans, group show of 32 artists.
2008 Gallery T, Denver, Colorado group exhibitions
2007 Super Nova 1, juried selection of Gulf South regional artists registery hosted by Barrister's Gallery, curated by Jeanette Ingberman (founder, Exit Art, NYC).
New Orleans Airlift (www.neworleansairlift.org)
2006 Mural, Dragon’s Den music club, New Orleans
2004 Commissions for private collectors and Barrister's Gallery.
2003 Cover illustrations for Ministry of Whimsy Press (Leviathan 4: Cities, multiple authors) and Night Shade Books (Veniss Underground, by Jeff Vandermeer)
2000 Founder and curator, Babylon Lexicon, an annual exhibition of artists’ books and local independent presses that developed into the New Orleans Book Fair, ongoing
1999 Public artist license for Jackson Square, involvement in monthly events at the Audubon Hotel, participation in various other art-related events in local clubs, ongoing
