Grace McMurray uses knitting, patchwork, embroidery, installation and weaving to create artworks that question stereotypes, gendered spaces, and social conditioning in the public imagination. Their work subverts function and makes tangible the processing of personal narratives and constant accumulation of invisible unpaid labour.
ARTIST BIO
Grace McMurray is an artist based in Belfast and Rathfriland. They graduated with a BA in Fine Art Sculpture at Wimbledon College of Art London in 2008. Recent projects include Irish Modernisms, CCA Derry~Londonderry (2021), the 251st Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts London (2019), and the Jerwood Drawing Prize at Jerwood Arts London (2017). They won the Arts Club Award at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (2019). Grace is a member of Array, the Belfast-based arts and activist collective that won the Turner Prize in 2021.
Shattered, 2022, Grace McMurray, 20.5cm (h) x 26cm (w) x 2.5cm (d), wool, wooden board.
Top Left: An installation of shot of Nest and Portal at Irish Modernisms CCA Derry~Londonderry 2021. (Image credit: CCA Derry~Londonderry 2021 & Paola Bernardelli)
Detail of Who is She, Who is She?, 2020, Grace McMurray, 78cm (h) x 52cm (w) Graphite on Card Weave, Framed Mirror.
Lay by me, 2022 Grace McMurray, 99x42x20cm, Hanging Fabric Patchwork.
Grace’s Works reflect on loss, shame, isolation and relationships. They attempt to reconstruct a sense of self and map a psychogeography of the body.
I grieve differently (Underneath), 2022, Grace McMurray, 25.5cm (h) x 20.5cm (w) x 2.5cm (d), acrylic wool, board.
Mondrian Jumper, 2019, Grace McMurray, 71x57x11cm, Sheep and Cotton Wool.
Infinity Room, 2022, Grace McMurray, 54x46cm, Acrylic Wool.
TITLE
The Bends
ARTIST
Grace McMurray
ABOUT THE WORK
This work is part of a series of 13 unique knitted wool pieces mounted on wood. Designed on knitting software and made on a manual knitting machine, each work is a one-off piece that is irreplicable due to slipped stitches, machine errors, and how the artist has hand-sewn them onto the mounting board. Some of the pieces in this series feature the underside of the work in order to expose the parts that are normally hidden, connecting with Grace McMurray’s broader practice of creating works that subvert function and make tangible the processing of personal narratives and accumulation of invisible labour.
With the exception of the white wool and two hand knitted pieces, everything in this series has been made from second hand material, including yellow wool from the artist’s mother’s collection of wool from the 1980’s. The titles of the works have associations with the artist’s personal life, reflecting on loss, shame, isolation and relationships, and attempts to reconstruct a sense of self.
DATE
2019
DIMENSIONS
26.5cm (h) x 21cm (w) x 3cm (d)
MEDIUM
Acrylic Wool, Wooden Board
ORIGINAL WORK / EDITION
Original Work
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Grace McMurray is an artist based in Belfast and Rathfriland. They graduated with a BA in Fine Art Sculpture at Wimbledon College of Art London in 2008. She uses knitting, patchwork, embroidery, installation and weaving to create artworks that question stereotypes, gendered space and social conditioning in the public imagination.
DELIVERY AND POSTAGE
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FRAMING
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FURTHER INFOMATION
Four colour Hand Knitted Isometric Design. This is a labour intensive process due to the number of colours and creating it by hand.