‘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.

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.

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In the RA Summer Exhibition 2023

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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.

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Member of Fankle Art Collective

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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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‘What If?’ exhibition opens

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‘What If? exhibition opens at Filet gallery with work by Carolyn Murphy and fellow MA Fine Art and Fine Art Printmaking students from Middlesex University. They will exhibit new and experimental work at Filet gallery, Hoxton.  

Poster design by artist Melisa Novotna

The exhibition draws on themes of reinvention, exploration and contemplation. As the group’s first show of 2023, it provides a collective opportunity to share new work and test new ideas in a public exhibition project space, dedicated to contemporary art. ‘What If?’ reflects on the creative process and outcomes – with work that contemplates identity, fragility and memory. 

Artist and printmaker Carolyn Murphy presents a video piece for the first time, called ‘Revisiting New Quay’. Her monotypes and collagraphs feature in the video installation and alongside it – reflecting on loss and our connections to place.

‘What If?’ suggests future possibility, a welcomed change, an echo of personal or collective regret, perhaps a missed opportunity?  The show includes artworks in diverse media – including painting, sculpture, printmaking, video and installation.  The exhibition runs from Friday 24 March until Monday 27 March 2023.

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Showing at Bankside Gallery

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Carolyn Murphy is showing work at Bankside Gallery in London as part the Printmakers Council’s exhibition, ‘Thinking for Printing‘. A year earlier, members received an A5 sketchbook and were invited to capture, record and respond to the concept of Thinking for Printing, for a future exhibition. As part of this exciting project, the Printmakers Council selected finished artworks to display alongside the sketchbooks, in order to give a fantastic insight into artists’ ways of working. The sketchbooks were a chance to peek inside each artists’ mind to understand more about their processes and development of ideas.

Detail from ‘Spaces we share’

Carolyn explored dry stone walling primarily in her sketchbook. She recorded experiments to add embossing to etchings and tested colours. She captured examples of rubs, which emphasised depth in the print. Her messy sketchbook sat alongside ‘Spaces we share’, an etching with embellishment, on this prestigious wall.

Works on display in Bankside Gallery
Carolyn’s sketchbook – dry stone wall study

The exhibition opens on Tuesday 31 January 2023 and runs until Sunday 5 February.

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‘Surface and Depth’ in Norwich

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Artist and printmaker Carolyn Murphy will be exhibiting in the Printmakers’ Council exhibition ‘Surface and Depth’, in Norwich. The Printmakers Council promotes the use of both traditional and innovative printmaking techniques. For this exhibition members submitted artworks under the theme of surface and depth for selection. The show was hosted by Mandell’s Gallery in Norwich and curating.

‘Fracture 2’, an original collagraph by Carolyn Murphy, was selected for the show. It is inspired by Winter Hill in Lancashire, a moorland landscape damaged by wild fire in recent years. Carolyn attended the exhibition preview and had the chance to explore the inspiring work on show.

The exhibition opens on Sunday 29 October and runs until 19 November at Mandell’s Gallery, Elm Hill, Norwich NR3 1HN.

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‘Verdant’ exhibition opens in Mile End

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The Middlesex University MA ‘Verdant’ exhibition opens at Mile End Art Pavilion from Friday 8 July to Wednesday 13 July, from 11am to 6pm. Artist and Printmaker Carolyn Murphy has 5 pieces of work on show, with fellow MA Fine Art and MA Fine Art Printmaking students.

Carolyn Murphy at the private view
‘A shift in the direction of the wind’, monotype by Carolyn Murphy
‘See how easily they fall away’, monotype by Carolyn Murphy

Carolyn created work specifically for the Art Pavilion space, to make the most of the light, the scale and the lakeside setting. Her monotype ‘Reclaiming’ is 2.4m high and has 4 panels. Other work was created for the floor: ‘No stone unturned’, consisting of ‘rocks’, which Carolyn cut and folded from paper she hand-printed, using a monotype technique.

‘No stone unturned’ by Carolyn Murphy

The ‘Verdant’ exhibition also includes work by Middlesex University MA Graphic Design, Photography and Illustration students, as well as postgraduate research students. It’s free and in a lovely spot in the park, just 5 minutes from Mile End underground station.