‘Unspun’ exhibition at Willesden Gallery

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Carolyn Murphy will show new work in the ‘Unspun’ exhibition at Willesden Gallery in June, with the Fankle Art Collective.

Exhibition poster

‘Unspun’ is an exploration of undoing, release and disintegration, and a loose and lively celebration of holding things together. See nine artists from the Fankle Collective focus on making, remaking, spinning and transformation. They bring together ideas of deconstruction and rebuilding, disconnection and reconnection, fragmentation of language and communication.

In the show, Fankle members unravel and spin stories over time, mythology and place, exploring migration, home and belonging, our relationship to nature and the non-human. The exhibition runs from Tuesday 25 June until Saturday 6 July 2024, with the private view on Thursday 27 June, from 6-8pm.

‘Lightly Tethered’, a new installation piece by Carolyn Murphy

As narratives emerge, tangling and untangling, visitors are reminded of the idea that a world of life is woven from physical and emotional strands, overlapping, contrasting, constantly changing and fragile. Fankle is a multidisciplinary art collective formed in 2023 by emerging artists from the Middlesex University MA Fine Art and MA Printmaking programmes. This show encompasses printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, painting, collage, photography and film and video.

The group’s name ‘Fankle’, a Scottish word for entanglement, reflects the complex web of ideas that combine in their shows and the varied generational and geographic origins of its members, with threads extending to Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Berlin, Munich, Baghdad, Tehran and Mexico City.

Exhibiting artists: Maryam Abdollahi | Phil Dunn |Angela Forrester | Carolyn Murphy | Moritz Nicolai | Iliana Ortega-Alcázar | Jan Pimblett |Hanan Tawfiq | Kathy Rooney

Getting There

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

Willesden Gallery, 95 High Road, London NW10 2SF

www.brent.gov.uk/willesdengallery

The gallery is on the ground floor of The Library at Willesden Green, a 5 minute walk from Willesden Green underground station (Jubilee line). Open weekdays 10.30am to 8pm, Saturdays 10.30am to 5pm and Sundays 12pm to 5pm.

Part of Derby Print Open 2024

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Carolyn Murphy will be part of Derby Print Open 2024, in June, along with over 70 other printmakers, selected for this year’s exhibition. Her works ‘Fracture’ and ‘Fracture 2’ will feature among over 250 prints for the show, which opens on Saturday 1 June.

‘Fracture’, a collagraph by Carolyn Murphy, will be available framed and unframed.
‘Fracture 2’ by Carolyn Murphy will be available unframed at the Derby Print Open 2024.

The Derby Print Open is an exhibition, organised by Green Door Printmaking Studio, which showcases contemporary printmaking from artists based in the United Kingdom.

Visitors will have the opportunity to peruse and purchase prints throughout the from 1 – 30 June 2024. There will be a wonderfully diverse selection of traditional and contemporary techniques, including screen printing, etching, linocut, monoprint, lithography and more. Works will be on show across four venues as part of a print trail; Banks Mill Studios, Dubrek Studios, Déda and The Smallprint Company.

Additionally, you can find details about the exhibition, including opening times, here. Since opening hours of different venues do vary, please do check carefully. The launch event is on Saturday 1 June, from 11am to 2pm. All venues are within 15 minutes walk from each other.

Inspired by Manchester

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‘Inspired by Manchester’, a pop-up exhibition in Sale town centre, includes work by Carolyn Murphy. The exhibition, organised by Neighbourhood Gallery, features work by artists from across the North West of England in a range of media. It’s the first time that Carolyn has submitted work, so it was great to see ‘Bridgewater Canal’ on the wall, alongside some fabulous artists. Carolyn also had some of her linocuts in the window and all works were for sale.

Exhibition in Sale town centre

The exhibition runs from 9 February to 2 March with a private view on 8 February 2024. It’s an exhibition of works “inspired by Manchester’s iconic cityscapes, spirited people and vibrant culture”.

Carolyn at ‘Inspired by Manchester’ with her etching of Bridgewater Canal

‘Bridgewater Canal’ is an etching, which captures a hidden level of Manchester, where the canal runs right through the city centre. It’s an atmospheric image and it’s due to feature in a book about Manchester soon.

‘Sale Water Park’, a reduction linocut by Carolyn Murphy, has gone off to new home from the show.

Artist Carolyn Murphy with her work 'Falling Fragments' at the Barbican show

Printmaking ‘Surface Challenge’

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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.

Image of Carolyn Murphy with her etching 'A World We Share?' at the MA degree show

It’s the ‘Borderlines’ MA degree show

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‘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.

‘Reclaiming’ opens at Holborn Library

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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).

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‘Inspired by’ exhibition in Eastbourne

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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 & A
Detail 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.

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‘Present Continuous’ exhibition opens

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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:

Opening night of Present Continuous
Copy of Copy of Didsbury Parsonage, Stenner lane, didsbury M20 2RQ - 1

Returning to the Didsbury Parsonage

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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.

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Exhibiting as part of the Bloomsbury Festival

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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.