Torgesen Murdock was raised on a ranch in Soda Springs, Idaho. She sketched and painted to while away idle hours and was always in demand as an illustrator for schools and civic groups.She attended universities in Hawaii and Utah and graduated from Utah State University in Logan, Utah, where she was awarded a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with honors. She studied with such notables as Alvin Gittins of the University of Utah and Joseph Mugnaini of Otis in Los Angeles, as well as Gaell Lindstrom, Adrian Van Suchtlan, Harrison Groutage, Ovanes Berberian, and Harley Brown. She went on to work toward a Masters Degree and to teach art for organizations and in private workshops.

She has many credits on her list of artistic achievements. Her work was featured in International Artist Magazine as one of the Master Painters of the United States and in their artist studio section. Her painting, “The DoIomites”, won the International 2014 Landscape Grand Prize for International Artist Magazine and was featured in their Dec/Jan 2015 issue and in the Dec 2014 issue of American Art Collector Magazine. In 2022 Her work, “All Are Alike Unto God”, was juried into the final 100 paintings out of several thousand of entries for the Biennial International Show of The Church of Jesus Christ of latter Day Saints. She is presented in the books, 100 Ways to Paint Seascapes, River, and Lakes, Splash 7, Splash 12, and Hear Him.

Torgesen’s work is included in the acquisitions of corporation and universities. In 2008 she completed a five by eleven foot mural for the corporate headquarters of Idaho Central Credit Union plus two five by six foot paintings for their presidential suite and five smaller paintings for their executive floor. In 2010 she was chosen to do paintings for the new Portneuf Hospital and a five by eleven foot mural for Idaho State University. She also has works hanging in the Darla Moore business building at the University of South Carolina and BYU Idaho. In 2021 Idaho Central Credit Union bought 16 of her paintings for their new executive building in Boise, Idaho. In 2022 two of her large landscape paintings were purchased to hang in the Portneuf Medical Center extension building. In 2022 her painting “Golden Threads” was exhibited in the Spiritual and Religious show at the Springville Art Museum. In 2021 she filled the Corridor Gallery at the TAM with her portraits. During the months of March and April 2023, she presented a one woman signature show at The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho. The show filled all four gallery spaces with sixty six landscapes, still life, and portrait paintings.

In July of 2002, Torgesen spent a month in St. Petersburg, Russia, studying art at the highly respected Repin Academie under Igor Vademovich Petrov. It was an irreplaceable experience that influenced her mind and heart, and thus her art.

Torgesen Murdocks’ spontaneous and energetic style, along with a strong color and design sense, have caused her collectors to comment that her art changes with the mood and feelings of the viewer and becomes more intriguing the longer they own each work. Torgesen Murdock’s art is an investment in living and changes with you each day.