Close up image of gold leaf being applied to an orange section of the hand-printed infinity loop

Making a flowing Infinity Loop

by with No Comment Behind the ScenesNew Work

For the Flow exhibition at Brixton Library, I decided to create a new site-specific installation piece, linked to my series of Fragile Structures. I developed a small scale test infinity loop, or Mobius Strip, to explore the idea of an infinitely fragile looped work, with cut out sections, handprinted on both sides of fine Japanese paper. I wanted to take advantage of the interaction of both sides in the sunlight of the large bright gallery space in Brixton.

‘Infinitely Fragile’ by Carolyn Murphy, an installation view

Previous works in the series have been self-supporting sculptural pieces, such as Towers of Strength, laser cut monotype structures. With this work I wanted to return to the monotype process I used in my Fragile Structure series of 2D prints, but taking this to a different scale and form.

Towers of Strength, by Carolyn Murphy

This post gives some background and process images. And flags some of the challenges too.

I decided to make the work in two sections. Taking on board the idea of infinity, I chose to transition each side of the paper from blue to orange and match the patterns at the two joins. For ease of transport, I only joined the loop on site in Brixton. I used Japanese rice paste as this can be unstuck with water, allowing for de-installation.

Printing the Japanese paper

I learnt a lot in the making, including the following:

  • My small scale maquette was one eighth the width, which turned out to be 61 times smaller in area! Maths…
  • Japanese paper loves to crease – I decided to embrace this by adding gold leaf, that had been donated to me by a friend, referencing the Japanese art of ‘kintsugi’.
  • The monotype stencil process I used requires a degree of ‘going with the flow’, which seemed appropriate tothe them of the show. You are never 100% sure of the outcome, although you can move it in the direction you want.
  • Follow my instincts to do something different – and, as usual, far more complicated than I set out to create!
  • The many ways of displaying a fragile work, in a busy well-used space.

Overall, I was delighted with the outcome and will continue to develop works in this Fragile Structures series.

Adding gold leaf

Blue poster for 'Flow' exhibition

Brixton Library ‘Flow’ exhibition opens

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Fankle Art Collective opens its fifth show this month. Fankle member Carolyn Murphy will be exhibiting 2D and 3D works as part of this multi-disciplinary exhibition. Images included here from the private view.

Carolyn Murphy with her works

Flow is a group exhibition by ten artists, working across painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, textiles, ceramics, collage, photography, and film and video. Interpreted by each artist in their own way, Flow suggests motion – where materials, energy, relationships and creative ideas come together and move forward. Fankle artists bring together works that jostle in the stream of the library’s gallery space, sometimes seeking the stillness of the ‘flow state’ itself.

We are reminded that a world of life is woven from strands, flowing, changing and fragile, as Fankle Art Collective members explore evolving ideas around identity and relationships with nature or home, notions of belonging, migration, fragmentation and reconnection.

‘A Scream of Swifts’ by Carolyn Murphy

Carolyn Murphy created two works specifically for the Brixton Library space: ‘Infinitely Fragile’ a 3D print installation, in the form of a Möbius strip, or infinity loop, and ‘A Scream of Swifts’, across all three windows of the Library’s gallery space.

Private View of ‘Flow’

Fankle is a multidisciplinary art collective formed in 2023. 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.

Fankle members and visitors to Flow

Artists exhibiting in Flow: Natalie Dee | Phil Dunn | Freddy McBride | Carolyn Murphy | Moritz Nicolai | Iliana Ortega-Alcázar | Jan Pimblett | Kathy Rooney | Luke Anthony Rooney | Hanan Shakir

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

This exhibition runs from 3 – 22 June 2026 at Brixton Tate Library, Brixton Oval, London SW2 1JQ

Opening times vary daily: Mondays 1pm – 8pm, Tuesdays 10am – 8pm, Wednesdays 10am – 6pm, Thursdays 10am – 8pm, Fridays 10am – 6pm, Saturdays 9am – 5pm, Sundays 12pm – 5pm.

The Library is close to Brixton underground station (Victoria line).

Poster for Festival of Print

Festival of Print in East London

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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

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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 collagraph, called Mixed Messages, on the wall at the Royal Academy

In the RA Summer Exhibition 2025

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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.

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First solo exhibition

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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.

Square-format RESPUN-2

Part of RESPUN exhibition

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Artist Carolyn Murphy will be part of the Fankle Art Collective’s RESPUN exhibition at the Durning Library in Kennington this December. It’s an adaptation of their successful UNSPUN show (Willesden Gallery, June 2024) to a new space with a revised line up of work. RESPUN opens with a private view on Wednesday 4 December, from 5.30pm – 7.30pm.

‘Lightly tethered’ by Carolyn Murphy

Nine artists from the Fankle Collective focus on making, remaking, spinning and transformation. RESPUN brings together ideas of deconstruction and rebuilding, disconnection and reconnection, fragmentation of language and communication. In the show, Fankle members unravel and re-spin stories over time, mythology and place, exploring migration, home and belonging, our relationship to nature and the non-human.

Poster for RESPUN exhibition

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 diverse media, including printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, textiles, collage and photography.

‘Transplant’ by Jan Pimblett

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 their members, with threads extending to Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Berlin, Munich, Baghdad, Tehran and Mexico City.

Exhibiting artists in RESPUN: Maryam Abdollahi, Phil Dunn, Angela Forrester, Carolyn Murphy, Iliana Ortega-Alcázar, Jan Pimblett, Hanan Tawfiq, Kathy Rooney, Luke Anthony Rooney.

Further information: www.fankle.art  Instagram @fankle.art

RESPUN runs from 4 December 2024 to 2 January 2025. The gallery is on the ground floor of the Durning Library, a 10-minute walk from Kennington underground station (Northern line). Open Mondays 1 – 6pm, Tuesdays 10am – 6pm, Wednesdays 10am – 8pm, Thursdays closed, Fridays 10am – 6pm, Saturdays 9am – 5pm, Sundays closed. Please check the library website for Christmas opening hours.

‘Unfiltered’ by Phil Dunn

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Festival of Print

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Carolyn Murphy will be exhibiting at the Festival of Print, at Mile End Art Pavilion this year. The Festival is an annual celebration of printmaking, organised by East London Printmakers to showcase members’ work and share the joy of print.

Poster for Festival of Print 2024

The Festival of Print 2024 opens on Friday 25 October and runs until Sunday 3 November. At the Opening night printmaker Paul Catherall was the guest speaker and presented prizes on behalf of the sponsors.

Carolyn Murphy at the Opening with her monotypes

This was Carolyn’s first time exhibiting with East London Printmakers, since becoming an Associate Member in 2023. She also volunteered to support the hanging team of this huge exhibition, which included 99 printmakers. There is an array of excellent contemporary print, for sale, as well as a box set and plenty of cards.

Installation view of the Opening
Installation view
Opening night
Mile End Art Pavilion’s Festival of Print 2024

Entry is free to all. Opening times are 11am to 6pm Friday 25 October to Saturday 2 November and 11am to 4pm on Sunday 3 November at Mile End Art Pavilion, Mile End Park, Clinton Road, Mile End, London E3 4QY.

‘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.

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.