Cara Murphy

Biography

Cara received a First Class Honours in Silversmithing and Jewellery from Glasgow School of Art in 1992, and completed an MA in Silversmithing at the Royal College of Art, London, in 1994. She divides her time between her silversmithing practice and teaching as an Associate Lecturer in MA Applied Arts and BA (Hons) Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Ulster, Belfast.
In the last decade Cara has been awarded four Support for the Individual Artist Awards from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and gained continuous support from the University of Ulster to develop her functional silver tableware. The work in ‘Silver Connections’ is the result of her most recent awards.

Cara works mainly to commission and exhibits her silverware internationally. Her work has been showcased in numerous high profile applied art and silversmithing exhibitions. Her silver tableware is represented in many national and international public and private collections including the Ulster Museum, Belfast; the Shipley Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne; Aberdeen Art Gallery; The Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon; and the Royal College of Art, London.

Artist's Statement

The landscape of tableware: questioning contexts, boundaries and function in silverware.

Using traditional silversmithing techniques the work addresses the concept of a silver landscape in the context of the table that challenges the boundaries of functional silver tableware.