Carolyn Murphy is part of the printmaking ‘Surface Challenge’ exhibition at Barbican Library, organised by the Printmakers Council. The exhibition displays a wide range of printmaking techniques and sets members a challenge, interpreting the theme however they wished for this selected show.
Details of the Show
Carolyn submitted an experimental piece, inspired by the complex surfaces and spaces of Eduardo Chillida’s ‘gravitaciones’ series of works on paper, that she has been studying as part of her MA programme. The surface of her work ‘Falling Fragments’ is divided over four pieces of paper, connected with thread. Incorporating collaged elements and embossing, the surface is hard to read and suggests an urban landscape and uncertain spaces.
Carolyn with her work ‘Falling Fragments’ at the private view
The exhibition runs from 2 February to 26 February 2024 in the Foyer of the Barbican Library, in the Barbican Centre, London. There’s a private view on 7 February 2024 and all are welcome.
To see more of Carolyn’s work, check out the Gallery section of this website and social media channels.
‘Borderlines’ MA degree show includes work by artist printmaker Carolyn Murphy. This small group exhibition showcases two years of exploration and regular public exhibition. It provides a snapshot of three emerging artists from Middlesex University postgraduate programmes and their diverse creative practices.
The exhibition reflects on the creative process itself, with works addressing identity, fragility and ethics. The MA Fine Art Printmaking and MA Photography artists in ‘Borderlines’ draw on themes of protest, loss and reinvention through print, installation and photography.
Artists featured in the show:
Wallis Asher (MA Fine Art Printmaking)
Jennifer Forward-Hayter (MA Photography)
Carolyn Murphy (MA Fine Art Printmaking)
The exhibition private view was on Thursday 7 December – with the show itself running from 8 – 13 December at Middlesex University’s Hendon Campus, Grove Building mezzanine. Opening times 11am to 5pm.
‘No stone unturned V’ by Carolyn Murphy in foreground. Work by Wallis Asher behind.Private view, with work by Carolyn Murphy and Jennifer Forward-Hayter (left)
Carolyn’s work in this exhibition is largely based on an area around ‘Winter Hill’, a Pennine moorland north of Manchester, which is still recovering from peatland fires that burned for weeks, above and below ground, in 2018.
Working in both 2D and 3D forms, Carolyn uses traditional printmaking techniques in this show to explore ideas of damage and repair, and illusions of stability and control.
Design work for the show was created for the group by Moritz Nicolai.
Carolyn with ‘A World We Share?’ at the private view.
Carolyn Murphy’s exhibition ‘Reclaiming’ opens at Holborn Library on Saturday 14 October, as part of Bloomsbury Festival 2023. Carolyn has 3 installation works in the show, all pieces she has created during her MA in Fine Art Printmaking at Middlesex University.
Reclaiming – monotype, with collage, 4 panels, 2022
No stone unturned IV – hand-printed 3-D paper structures, 2023
A world we share? – repeat-pattern etching with emboss and hand embellishment, 2023
Her work is inspired by landscape, especially human interventions in the world around us. Themes include fragility, decay, loss and renewal. This exhibition reflects on nature’s power to reclaim.
Carolyn Murphy with ‘Reclaiming’
Talking about Reclaiming, Carolyn explains “The image is from a ruin I visited on walks in the Colne Valley (West Yorkshire), once considered to be a place where trees would not grow, in the damaged industrial landscape. Since the 1960s volunteers have planted over 300,000 trees.”
‘No stone unturned IV’ by Carolyn Murphy
No stone unturned IV suggests solidity but the ‘rocks’ are simply folded from hand-printed paper. Lichens are the perfect symbiosis of two species, able to grow in the most challenging of environments and a pioneer species for further new life.
‘A world we share?’ on the Library wall
A world we share? looks at dry stone walling. Walls can be seen as a symbol of building – and of boundaries. We humans destroy much in our path. Here new habitats are also created, first inhabited by lichens and mosses, then by plants, small mammals and even birds.
“My work balances decay and growth and my MA studies connect this with my own personal growth, following a period of health challenges,” Carolyn explains.
‘Reclaiming’ is open from Saturday 14 October until Saturday 21 October 2023 at Holborn Library, Mon – Fri 10am – 5pm; Saturday 11am – 4pm (closed Sun).
Carolyn Murphy has a print inspired by Julian Trevelyan in the ‘Inspired By’ exhibition at Emma Mason gallery in Eastbourne. To clarify, Julian Trevelyan was a founder member of the Printmakers Council, a Royal Academician and outstanding printmaker and educator. Carolyn’s work ‘Stone Circle’ is a respectful nod to Trevelyan’s etching ‘Stonehenge’, which she viewed earlier this year at the Victoria & Albert Museum.
‘Stone Circle’ by Carolyn Murphy
Carolyn submitted the piece in response to a call from the Printmakers Council for new work from current members. Importantly, works needed to be inspired by early members of the organisation, which was set up in 1965 to promote and support the work of printmakers. Carolyn chose Julian Trevelyan, a founder member, because she has been exploring his work during her MA studies.
All works were selected for the show in Eastbourne, and are currently for sale online on the Emma Mason website.
‘Stone Circle’ is a monotype collage with graphite and linocut, which is a new combination of techniques for Carolyn.
Talking about Julian Trevelyan’s work, Carolyn explains “I love his compositions, his colours, the stylisation in his landscapes, his joyful experimentation and confident use of collage.”
‘Stonehenge’ by Trevelyan, 1961
She added, “In preparing new work for the exhibition, I returned to some of the etchings, collages and linocuts by Trevelyan that I already knew and looked more closely at the elements I loved. I questioned what made them so interesting to me and so typical of Trevelyan – perhaps his use of space within compositions, those textures and his experimental approach to landscape.
Detail from a Trevelyan etching in the V & ADetail from Trevelyan etching showing colour and textures
In my own practice, I have been creating ‘rock’ 3D structures hand-printed on paper. I decided to collage off-cuts from these monotypes and embrace the white space. I directly referenced Trevelyan’s etching and aquatint ‘Stonehenge’ (1961) in the composition and sun motif.”
Example of precarious monotype ‘rock’ tower – ‘No Stone Unturned III’ by Carolyn Murphy
Emma Mason gallery in Eastbourne is open Thursday to Saturday 10am to 4pm and at other times by appointment. The ‘Inspired By’ exhibition runs from 7 October until 4 November 2023.
Printmaker Carolyn Murphy will be part of Middlesex University MA exhibition ‘Present Continuous’ which opens at the Hendon campus on Thursday 7 September.
Artists in this show are:
Wallis Asher
Julien Ipanga
Bibi Masooma
Carolyn Murphy
Melisa Novotna
Iliana Ortega-Alcázar
Jostna Reddy
Abhishek Shakya
This exhibition allows artists to show their work in larger spaces and explore new opportunities for display, as part of their postgraduate studies in MA Fine Art / MA Fine Art Printmaking.
Carolyn Murphy showed 3 works:
‘A World We Share?’ is an etching with a repeat pattern. It is embossed to create texture and embellished by hand, with watercolour and Indian ink. Over 7 square metres in size, it floats across three walls.
‘A World We Share?’ by Carolyn Murphy
‘No Stone Unturned’ is an installation made of hand-printed, 3D folded structures suggesting stone and lichens. In six designs, this growing collection uses no glue and will morph and balance, presented in tall precarious towers in this exhibition.
Close-up view of ‘No Stone Unturned’
‘Winter Hill’ is a series of one-off prints, creating a disrupted panoramic landscape. It combines oil-based inks and watercolour monotype techniques with added collage, chine collée and burnt sections.
‘Winter Hill’ by Carolyn Murphy
The exhibition runs from 7 to 13 September 2023 in the Grove Building.
Following the show, a few images of the exhibition and opening are added below:
In August, Carolyn Murphy will be returning to the Didsbury Parsonage for ‘Spectrum 3’, a group exhibition with Cate Gibson, Janet Higgins and Anne Mackinnon. “We have all exhibited together at the Parsonage before and Cate and I have run linocut workshops there too, so it’s fantastic to be returning after quite a gap,” explained Carolyn. The exhibition opens on Sunday 6 August 2023.
Poster for ‘Spectrum 3’ art exhibition
All the artists are based in Didsbury and the South Manchester area. They will be at the Didsbury Parsonage on Sundays from 2pm – 5pm throughout the exhibition to talk to visitors and discuss their work. At these times, they will also have unframed work and cards available for sale.
Work featured in ‘Spectrum 3’ includes painting and printmaking, including linocuts, collagraphs, abstract paintings and pastel and watercolour landscapes.
Work will be shown in Gallery 2, with its wonderful, restored sun dial stained glass window. Classes take place in the gallery spaces at various times (Monday to Saturday) so please call the Didsbury Parsonage ahead on 0161-445-7661 to check access to Gallery 2 at those times. Galleries are open on Sundays. It’s a great spot to enjoy the exhibitions and stroll around the gorgeous Parsonage Gardens. We hope you can join us in August. ‘Spectrum 3’ runs from Sunday 6 August until Monday 28 August 2023.
Artist and printmaker Carolyn Murphy will exhibit her work as part of the Bloomsbury Festival 2023. “I am delighted to have been offered the opportunity to exhibit at Holborn Library in October. It’s a wonderful Festival and a great chance to share my work with new audiences, ” she explained.
Carolyn Murphy at the Bloomsbury Festival Programme launch event
The Festival programme is out now and includes ‘Reclaiming’, an installation created by Carolyn using traditional printmaking techniques. It reflects on nature’s power to reclaim. She will show additional artworks that explore habitats and the fragility of the world we share.
Bloomsbury Festival 2023 Programme
Bloomsbury Festival celebrates contemporary Bloomsbury; a hotbed of creativity and pioneering development which has one of the youngest and most diverse populations in the country. For hundreds of years, Bloomsbury has been a catalyst for ideas that have had impact across the world.
The Bloomsbury Festival 2023 theme GROW is inspired by a fantastic range of new relationships and creativity, all of which celebrate growth and share the life, arts, culture and learning to be found in Bloomsbury 2023.
‘Reclaiming’ by Carolyn Murphy will be at the Holborn Library from Saturday 14 to Saturday 21 October; open Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm and Saturday 11am to 4pm (closed Sundays). This is a free exhibition, so you can just turn up! For more information on the full festival programme, please check out the Bloomsbury Festival website.
Carolyn Murphy has work in the Royal Academy (RA) Summer Exhibition 2023. ‘Below the Pike’ is a collagraph print inspired by Stoodley Pike in West Yorkshire and it’s on show in Gallery Five of this prestigious annual open exhibition. The original monument was erected high on the Pennines to mark the defeat of Napoleon. It was then rebuilt in 1856 after a lightning strike.
‘Below the Pike’, original collagraph by Carolyn Murphy
Carolyn is a keen walker and regularly walks in the Pennine hills. She is interested in human interventions in the landscape. This work reflects on layers of history and human exploitation of the area, which is now increasingly valued as an important natural habitat, following its industrial past. ‘Below the Pike’ is for sale via the Royal Academy in an edition of ten.
Encouraged by tutors to submit work to open calls and pursue all opportunities to exhibit, Carolyn entered for the first time this year and was successful. Each year around 15,000 people apply to show work alongside the Royal Academicians so competition is always fierce. David Remfry RA is the Summer Exhibition co-ordinator 2023 and his theme is Only Connect.
Carolyn explained, ‘I could not be more excited to have work included in the Summer Exhibition. It has been an ambition of mine for many years but I have not been brave enough to have a go until 2023! I’m planning to visit regularly to take in this huge and exciting show. The ‘Varnishing Day’ was a fabulous experience – a day to savour forever. It was amazing to meet other exhibitors and view the exhibition before it opens.’
Artist Carolyn Murphy on Varnishing Day 2023
The Summer Exhibition is open to the public from 13 June to 20 August 2023 – tickets are available from the Royal Academy.
The ‘Fankle 01’ exhibition opens in July at Coningsby Gallery in London. Fankle is a new art collective, of emerging artists from across the UK, who work independently and come together to exhibit. A complex web of ideas and a shared love of creating unites their practices.
As they weave stories from memory, experience and mythology, tangling and untangling, we’re reminded of the idea that a world of life is woven from knots. The name ‘Fankle’ is Scottish in origin and means entanglement, like threads where the beginnings and ends are uncertain.
Fankle 01 is the first exhibition in Central London to bring together these artists as a group. Artists will show recently produced contemporary work, across painting, sculpture, printmaking, video and installation. Fankle 01 reflects the start of a new journey, with themes of identity, fragility and transition.
Carolyn Murphy will be exhibiting new monotypes from the series ‘Revisiting New Quay’ which relate to her memories of a visit to the Welsh fishing village. She created the prints for a recent video essay project.
‘Revisiting New Quay I’ by Carolyn Murphy
Members of the group are connected by their links to Middlesex University, as former or current students on the MA Fine Art and MA Printmaking programmes. Their threads stretch far beyond London – to Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Berlin, Munich, Baghdad, Tehran and Mexico City.
Their first exhibition provides an opportunity for reflection on community, hope and times of change. Fankle 01 opens on Monday 10 July and runs until Saturday 15 July, with the private view, on Monday 10 July at 6pm. This show includes work by Fankle art collective members:
Maryam Abdollahi
Natalie Dee
Phil Dunn
Angela Forrester
Freddy McBride
Carolyn Murphy
Moritz Nicolai
Iliana Ortega-Alcázar
Jan Pimblett
Hanan Tawfiq
Kathy Rooney
Luke Anthony Rooney (guest artist)
Katherine Jones RA commented “I’m delighted that this group of dedicated artists have decided to continue their association with one another beyond their studies by forming Fankle. I have been impressed by their respectful coordination of group exhibitions both onsite and independently while at Middlesex University. Their unique balance of disciplines, materials and outlooks will serve them well. I very much look forward to experiencing Fankle 01 at the Coningsby Gallery.”
See website for opening times and further information.
Carolyn Murphy is a member of Fankle, a newly formed art collective of emerging artists from across the UK. Members work independently across multiple disciplines and come together to exhibit. A complex web of ideas and a shared love of creating unites their practices. The name ‘Fankle’ is Scottish in origin. It means entanglement, like threads where the beginnings and ends are uncertain.
Fankle logo designed by Moritz Nicolai
Fankle will hold its first exhibition ‘Fankle 01’ at Coningsby Gallery in Central London in July 2023. This marks an exciting step for the new collective. Artists will show recently produced contemporary work, across painting, sculpture, printmaking, video and installation.
All members of the group have connections to Middlesex University, as former or current students on the MA Fine Art and MA Printmaking programmes. Their threads stretch far beyond London – to Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Berlin, Munich, Baghdad, Tehran and Mexico City.
Fankle art collective members are Wallis Asher, Maryam Abdollahi, Natalie Dee, Phil Dunn, Angela Forrester, Freddy McBride, Carolyn Murphy, Moritz Nicolai, Iliana Ortega-Alcázar, Jan Pimblett, Hanan Tawfiq and Kathy Rooney.
Katherine Jones RA commented “I’m delighted that this group of dedicated artists have decided to continue their association with one another beyond their studies by forming Fankle. I very much look forward to experiencing Fankle 01 at the Coningsby Gallery.”
Full details of the exhibition can be found here. Please follow Fankle via our Instagram page.
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