Muriel at the Morgan Conservatory of Papermaking
In much of my creative practice, I employ print, ceramic, textiles, and paper to examine the unreliability of nostalgia and the comfort of tactility. Using tactile materials, such as handmade paper and raw batting, I reflect on memories of textures, tastes, plates of food, reuse, and ephemeral touch through crafted moments of material paradox. The fibers of my work are built by personal memories as a daughter of an Irish immigrant, cooked in American fantasy and instability. My recent work’s intention is to provide a space of tenderness, connection, and humor for the viewer, offering both respite and a farewell to the past. The playful forms and soft surfaces earnestly try to provide levity, while reflecting on the fallibility of established social structures and collective memory.
Muriel holds an MFA from University of Tennessee- Knoxville (‘22) and a BFA from Montana State University (‘16.) Between degrees, she assisted at Frogman’s Print Workshops in Omaha, NE and was a postgraduate apprentice at the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia. She has been awarded residencies with Print Arts Northwest (Portland, OR), Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, Poland, and the Morgan Paper Conservatory (Cleveland, OH.) She has shown nationally and participated in many print exchanges, including organizing a fabric based quilt print exchange.
Muriel works and lives in Helena, MT creating work that dances between practicality and uselessness.