Poster for Festival of Print

Festival of Print in East London

by with No Comment EventExhibitionNews

East London Printmaker’s Festival of Print is coming soon – and Carolyn Murphy will be showcasing new work from a series of monotypes called Fragile structures. This is Carolyn’s second time in the Festival, as an Associate Member, and FOP2025 will be at the Mile End Art Pavilion from 21 November to 30 November.

The Festival of Print is East London Printmakers’ annual exhibition – the highpoint of the creative year. FOP2025 celebrates the wide range of contemporary printmaking produced in the studio as well as the wealth of skill and talent at ELP, showcasing the work of established artists and emerging creatives. The Festival of Print offers visitors the rare opportunity to see and acquire original prints from around 100 participating artists. The Festival also highlights ELP’s values of community and cooperation, demonstrating the studio’s excellent facilities for printmaking using woodblock, screenprint, etching and lino. The Festival of Print will also launch this year’s limited-edition Box Set, a collection of 30x30cm prints for sale individually and as a set.

Venue: The Art Pavilion, Clinton Rd, London E3 4QY

Opening hours: 11-00am to 6-00pm (except Sunday 30th November at 4-00pm)

Late night evening with panel discussion: Friday 28th November at 6-00pm

Find out more: exhibition@eastlondonprintmakers.co.uk

http://www.eastlondonprintmakers.co.uk

Poster for Intersect exhibition

Intersect exhibition with Fankle Collective

by with No Comment ExhibitionNews

Carolyn Murphy will be part of the Intersect exhibition with Fankle Art Collective in Stratford, East London from 30 October to 21 November. Intersect brings together ten artists, who work across painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, textiles, ceramics, collage, photography, and film and video.  Carolyn will be presenting a large format print installation A Scream of Swifts as well as a new series of composite prints.

Poster design showing information on the Fankle Art Collective's Intersect exhibition

‘To meet and cross at a point’ is to intersect and this is Fankle’s fourth exhibition together, the fourth exploration of interconnecting ideas at a single point in place and time. Diverse ideas jostle within the space of the Stratford Unitarian Gallery, connecting and seeking out common ground.

As the Fankle Collective members make, remake, transform and deconstruct, for the brief period of the show, works overlap and interplay. Narratives that explore identity and relationships with nature or home, and notions of belonging and migration intersect with concepts of fragmentation and reconnection. We are reminded that a world of life is woven from strands, overlapping, contrasting, changing and fragile. Intersect celebrates those shared connections.

Image of blue linocut swifts hand printed on tissue paper, a detail from a work by Carolyn Murphy
‘A Scream of Swifts’ (detail), a linocut and laser cut print installation by artist Carolyn Murphy.

Fankle is a multidisciplinary art collective formed in 2023 by emerging artists from the Middlesex University MA Fine Art and MA Printmaking programmes. The name ‘Fankle’, a Scottish word for entanglement, reflects the complex web of ideas they draw together, as well as the varied generational and geographic origins of Fankle members, with threads extending from London to Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Berlin, Munich, Baghdad, Tehran and Mexico City.

Artists exhibiting in Intersect: Natalie Dee | Phil Dunn | Angela Forrester | Freddy McBride | Carolyn Murphy | Iliana Ortega-Alcázar | Jan Pimblett | Hanan Tawfiq | Kathy Rooney | Luke Anthony Rooney

For more information, check out www.fankle.art and @fankle.art on Instagram.

Open: Thursdays to Saturdays, 2pm – 6pm

Meet the Artists events: Saturday 8 November and Saturday 15 November, 2pm – 4pm

Stratford Unitarian Gallery, Stratford Unitarian, West Ham Lane, Stratford, London E15 4PH

www.stratfordunitariangallery.co.uk

The gallery is close to Stratford station (Central line, Jubilee line, DLR and Overground).

Image of Carolyn Murphy's laser cut 3D paper structures, called Wear and Tear in the Chester gallery

Threads of Expression in Chester

by with No Comment ExhibitionNews

Threads of Expression, an exhibition in Chester, is the culmination of a year of exploration by six North West based artists, whose work spans photography, printmaking, textile arts and painting. All have spent 2024/25 at the University of Chester developing new work, learning new skills and taking their practice forward in their chosen areas, as part of the national AA2A Project. Now, those creative threads converge with a showcase of work, on a range of themes, some intertwined, some unique.

Work by:

The exhibition runs from 4 – 18 July 2025, at the CASC Gallery in Chester’s Grosvenor Shopping Centre. There’s a Private View on Friday 4 July, 4-6pm.

AA2A is a national scheme which offers artists the chance to access facilities in universities and colleges, and students the chance to learn more about practising artists and the wider creative industries. More information at www.aa2a.org

Carolyn is showing new laser cut fragile structures for the first time. These 3D paper sculptures combine traditional printmaking skills and digital technology.

CASC Gallery, Grosvenor Shopping Centre, Chester CH1 1DE

Open Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays 10am to 4pm.

Image of Carolyn Murphy's collagraph, called Mixed Messages, on the wall at the Royal Academy

In the RA Summer Exhibition

by with No Comment ExhibitionNews

Carolyn Murphy will be in the RA Summer Exhibition 2025. Her artwork ‘Mixed Messages’ , a collagraph landscape, was selected from the 18,000 works submitted and will be on display at the Royal Academy in London, from 17 June until 17 August 2025.

Carolyn Murphy at the RA Summer Exhibition 2025 with her work

Held every year since 1769, the Summer Exhibition showcases work by Royal Academicians, experienced artists and emerging talent. Many works are available to buy and sales directly support exhibiting artists and the RA’s charitable work. The exhibition remains online until the end of November 2025 and work can be browsed and purchased on the RA website.

Carolyn last exhibited at the Summer Exhibition in 2023. “It’s a dream come true to be back so soon!”, she said and was able to visit the exhibition to see her work in Gallery VIII, curated by Sikelela Owen RA.

‘Mixed Messages’, a collagraph by Carolyn Murphy

Tickets on sale at www.royalacademy.org.uk and opening times are Tues – Sun: 10am – 6pm, Fri: 10am – 9pm.

Image of artist printmaker Carolyn Murphy in front of her work

Bursary award

by with No Comment News

Carolyn Murphy received an Artists’ Bursary award in 2024/5 from a-n, The Artists Information Company. This allowed her to document her solo exhibition ‘Layer over Layer’ at The Stone Space, with professional photographer Ellie Laycock, capturing individual pieces in the show as well as installation views of the exhibition and private view shots.

“This is an exciting development, at just the right time. I’m really grateful to a-n, for the opportunity to enhance my practice and capture my work in this way, helping me to take my work to the next level”, explained Carolyn.

The project included photography and videography and is the first part of the bursary request, which also included website development work. Below are some of the images of Carolyn Murphy’s work in ‘Layer over Layer’:

‘Layer over Layer’ is Carolyn’s first solo exhibition and it took place at The Stone Space gallery, in Leytonstone, East London, from 13 February to 9 March 2025. The exhibition featured printmaking works on paper, including large-scale print installations and 3D sculptural floor pieces.

Photographs by Ellie Laycock, supported by a bursary from a-n, The Artists Information Company.

inst flyer front-1

First solo exhibition

by with No Comment ExhibitionNews

Artist printmaker Carolyn Murphy’s first solo exhibition comes to The Stone Space gallery, in Leytonstone, East London. Layer over Layer features printmaking works on paper, including large-scale print installations and 3D sculptural floor pieces.

Inspired by the landscape and by a poem, ‘Tissue’ by Imtiaz Dharker, that links paper with skin, the exhibition title references layered print processes, layers of meaning, time and memory. Works in the show question appearances, illusions of stability and control, exploring ideas of damage and repair.

The exhibition runs from 13 February to 9 March 2025 and is open at weekends only: Saturdays 10am to 4pm and Sundays 12 to 4pm.

Works include ‘No Stone Unturned’, a collection of over 100 folded-hand-printed structures, suggesting the solidity of rock, precariously stacked. ‘A World We Share?’ takes over the gallery space, whilst ‘Lightly Tethered’, a kite installation, captures a sense of fragility.

The Stone Space is an independent not-for-profit gallery in Leytonstone, close to Leytonstone tube station on the Central Line. Opened in 2011, it occupies part of the ground floor of the Leytonstone Library Building. It is staffed by volunteers and led by a group of volunteer organisers who plan the exhibition programme.

Private view: Thursday 13 February 18.00 to 20.00

Artist’s Talk: Sunday 2 March 14.00 to 15.00

Gallery address: 6 Church Lane, Leytonstone E11 1HG

Photos by Ellie Laycock, supported by a bursary from a-n, The Artists Information Company.

AA2A artist in residence in Chester

by with No Comment News

Carolyn Murphy is an AA2A Artist in Residence in Chester this year, joining the University of Chester as part of the AA2A Project scheme. Residencies provide access to state-of-the-art resources and a collaborative environment for professional practice development, whilst enriching the academic environment for students. This year, AA2A is celebrating 25 years of delivering residency programmes through art and design institutions across England.

“In this residency, I plan to develop further the installation side of my practice, bringing together traditional print processes with digital technology, such as laser cutting, to take forward my interest in fragile structures,” Carolyn explained. “I love to learn and to share knowledge and I hope to continue to do this through the AA2A residency, and connect with a wider learning community through printmaking.”

Carolyn Murphy with some of her installation works, Mile End Art Pavilion, July 2022

The residency at the University of Chester runs from October 2024 to summer 2025. There are six resident artists, bringing diverse disciplines and experiences to the programme. In December the AA2A artists put on an exhibition in Chester city centre, at the University’s CASC Gallery, to introduce themselves and their practice to students and staff.

‘Reclaiming’, on display at CASC Gallery, Chester, December 2024
Carolyn Murphy’s installation ‘No Stone Unturned VII’ in the window of the Chester exhibition
Visitors to the gallery
Artists’ talks to staff and students, December 2024
AA2A coordinator Greg Fuller talks about the work on show

During the year, Carolyn will be sharing updated on her Instagram page, as the residency progresses and she experiments with new techniques.

Post updated with exhibition images – December 2024.