Éilís at work
Éilís makes handmade and limited edition books and boxes. She uses artists’ books as a canvas to put forward her ideas. Collaboration is an important part of her practice. She loves facilitating other artists, writers and creatives to create limited edition books.
Objects of beauty
“The beauty of bookbinding for me is that I can use traditional techniques that remain unchanged for centuries, but combined with a contemporary design and my own artistic innovation,” says book artist Éilís Murphy.
“There is a long and rich tradition of bookbinding - and indeed artists’ books - in Ireland, starting right back with monks in early monasteries. Their artistic interpretations of written scriptures were the first examples of artists’ books in Ireland.”
The perfect union of creativity and mechanics
“How things work has always held a fascination for me,” says Éilís. “I love to create by combining materials and processes in an unconventional way, so when I studied at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, I was drawn to printmaking as it was the perfect union of creativity and mechanics.”
In 2003 an American bookbinder came to the college and taught a module in bookbinding. “I was hooked. I applied for an internship that summer at the prestigious Center for Book Arts in New York and spent three months as an apprentice to Roni Gross.”
Éilís has been binding books ever since and along the way has trained with the Society of Bookbinders (UK), Frauke Schroeder (Berlin) and West Dean College (UK), and has volunteered with the Paper Conservation Department in the National Gallery of Ireland.
Éilís is a member of the Society of Bookbinders (UK), the Design & Crafts Council of Ireland, the Graphic Studio Dublin and Visual Artists’ Ireland. She lives and works in the Burren in the west of Ireland.
In 2022, Éilis was honoured to receive a Visual Arts Bursary from the Arts Council of Ireland to develop her art practice. Artists’ books are her principal medium. Through them, she draws together diverse elements such as print, collage and participatory events, weaving multiple threads together.
To see more of Éilís’ art work, visit eilismurphy.com
Click here to see Éilís’ full C.V.
