Born in California, Althea Murphy Price is a professional artist and printmaker currently living in Knoxville TN. As an artist, her work has been recognized for it’s 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 in West Lafayette Indiana, and later studying at the Tyler School of Art, Temple University in Philadelphia, PA where she earned her Master of Fine Arts.
Murphy-Price maintains an active exhibiting practice. She has exhibited in venues throughout the country and abroad such as: the Weston Gallery, Cincinnati, OH; Howard Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD; Wellesley College, Boston, MA, Wade Wilson Art Gallery, Houston, TX; Indiana University Art Museum, The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA; The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, Charleston, SC; and the Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN. International exhibits include the International Printmaking Exhibition, Jingdezhen, China; the American Youth Printmaking Exhibition, Lui Haisu Art Museum, Shanghai, China and Print Resonance, Musashino Art University, Tokyo, Japan. Her writing and work has been featured in such publications as Art Papers Magazine, CAA Reviews, Contemporary Impressions Journal, Art in Print, Printmaking: A Complete Guide to Materials and Process, and Printmakers Today.

Surface, takes a form of metaphor and physical expression in my work and its significance is central to ideas of which human perception revolve. Both our interior and exterior perception of ourselves and others dictate how we exist in the world. Our perceptions are based on generalities, and surface values. Surface, also inspires much of my process which encourages ones close observation, and solicits the desire to touch for understanding. I 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, sculpture and printmaking methods to create a surface quality in which complexity is implied.