Art Exhibitions

Make Believe

Puppets & Paintings by Gwen Murphy

Puppets and paintings by Gwen Murphy will be on exhibit in the library’s Meeting Room Gallery during the months of May and June 2025.

The artist says of her work:

In the 1960s and ‘70s, my world was an overgrown yard surrounded by hedges, a small, pink stucco house under an orange tile roof, palm trees, fruit trees, and an ancient cedar tree, its rough branches extending low for me to climb. There were animal allies, both real and pretend. There was time and solitude for imaginings.

It was a time when every little girl absorbed the spurious promise: “You are to be The Beautiful Princess.” My drawing and pretending filled up with the symbols of the power and vulnerability of this Beautiful Princess: towering tiaras over endless flowing hair, and impossibly tall, conical dresses, teetering on tiny slippers.

Now, as an older artist returning to these images, I find even more intense meaning, mysterious power, and visual possibility.

I learned to make rod puppets at an excellent weekend workshop at Sand Glass Theater in Putney, Vermont. That experience and my grandson’s enthusiasm for puppets have inspired me to create this recent series of characters. To me they are both functional puppets and wall sculpture.

An Acton resident, Gwen received her Master of Fine Arts degree from the Boston University College of Fine Arts. Her work has been exhibited at locations across New England and beyond, including the Gallery in the Woods in Burlington, Vermont, the AMZhender Gallery in Wellfleet, and ArtSpace Maynard. She has also been part of exhibitions at the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City, the Society of Contemporary Craft in Philadelphia, and the Strathmore Fine Arts Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

For more information on Gwen Murphy’s work, visit: https://www.instagram.com/gwenmurphystudio/

Exhibitions are free and handicapped accessible. Exhibitions in the library Meeting Room are available for viewing whenever the library is open and the room is not in use for a meeting. Please check the library’s Program Calendar for availability.

At the beginning of each year, the Arts Committee of the Acton Memorial Library invites Massachusetts artists to submit work for consideration for upcoming exhibitions in the Meeting Room Gallery. More information is available on the library’s Artists Exhibition Opportunity page.