Barbara Kay Murrell

A memorial service to celebrate her life and spirit of creativity will take place on Saturday, Dec. 4, 2021 at 2 pm in the Memory Garden of her church: Unitarian Universalists of New Braunfels, 135 Alves Ln., New Braunfels, TX 78130. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the church.

Born on June 19, 1949 in Dallas, TX, of William and Virginia Murrell, she attended Walnut Hill Elementary, Edward H. Cary Jr. High, and graduated from Thomas Jefferson High in 1967. She continued her education as an Art Major at Howard Payne University, in Brownwood, TX, where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in spring of 1971.

Her dream was to support herself through her artistic talent. She began her career as a commercial sign and billboard painter for Foster and Kleiser in Austin, TX. She returned to Dallas, where she worked in theatrical set design, painting backdrops for the firm of Peter Wolf. With the firm, she created for the Dallas Opera, Dallas Summer Musicals and several prominent church productions.

She completed at least two acclaimed outdoor wall murals in Dallas, for which she received significant media coverage. One was a group of vintage-style magazine covers on a brick wall in The Quadrangle shopping district. A few years later, she was commissioned by Coors Brewing Company to paint by scale a huge replica of a Native American painting onto a courtyard wall at El Centro Community College. KERA-TV produced a documentary film about the project.

In 2007, she was hired as Artist-in-Residence at Rancho Miranda, a Spanish mission-inspired private residence that offers breathtaking views of “The Devil’s Backbone” in the Texas Hill Country. She created colorful faux finishes for interior walls, floors, and ceilings as well as creative re-designs of furniture. She even helped re-design landscape treatments. The result was so original that articles with photographs were featured in the San Antonio newspaper. The property became a popular wedding venue.

One of the greatest achievements of her career came in 2008 when she was hired as Artist-In-Residence for The Art Cottage at The Sanctuary, a community-based church in Austin, TX. She offered art classes, and in a personally significant project, painted notable interior wall murals of biblically–themed scenes.

In Dallas, she became Set Designer and Art Director for Theater Three, where she received awards for her designs. Prior to that, she was the Department Chair for Painting and Drawing at The Craft Guild of Dallas. She also taught at The Creative Arts Center of Dallas, The Dallas Arboretum, and The Women’s Museum in Dallas.

Through the years, for various art organizations, she taught classes in oil, acrylic and watercolor painting, sculpting, pottery, weaving, and crafting. At art festivals, she delighted in encouraging children to experiment with different art mediums. She inspired those around her to explore their inner artist and potential, including her great-niece and great-nephews. She also proved to be a life-long learner herself, continuously taking classes, reading, researching, and joining community groups. She practiced everything from painting, drawing, sewing, quilting, needlepoint, crochet, stain glass, welding, basket weaving, jewelry making, wood carving, sculpting, book making, leather crafting, glass bead making, and much more. She sought after the potential of each material and medium and created with intention and purpose. Her spirit, presence, and sense of humor brought joy to each group she joined.

Her faith was rooted in her experiences on youth choir tours and summer camps sponsored by First Baptist Church Dallas. Eventually, as an adult, she wanted to expand her horizons and she joined First Unitarian Church of Dallas, where she served through the Evening Women’s Alliance. Most recently she was an active and engaged member of Unitarian Universalists of New Braunfels.

Barbara was preceded in death by her younger sister, Shirley Sue Murrell Swartz, her mother and father, Virginia and William Murrell, and her grandparents – Mark and Evalyn Reynolds, Virgil Murrell, and Mae Rutledge Murrell Ferguson, and one nephew, Christopher Shaun Hoffmann.

She is survived by one niece of New Braunfels (daughter of her deceased sister), Lauren Rhea Swartz McPherson, and a great-niece and great-nephew also of New Braunfels: Zoe Taylor McPherson and Ethan Ryan McPherson. She is also survived by one older sister, Melinda Murrell Hoffmann of Plano, TX and two nieces (also of Plano) - Shelley Rebecca Hoffmann and Kimberly Ann Hoffmann Pickering, and one great-nephew, Jonah Eric Hoffmann of Richardson, TX, as well as numerous cousins in Dallas-Fort Worth, East TX, Houston, TX, Colorado, and Ohio