‘Exquisite small treasures’

Karyn Murphy is a scientist and a self-taught multidisciplinary artist with an insatiable sense of curiosity. Incorporating natural materials from Kachemak Bay into her artwork, she melds these passions when creating handmade paper from seaweed, hexagonal books with salmon skin covers and pigments from rocks and shells, and more.

By incorporating natural materials into her various disciplines, like clay, rocks, shells, mussels and seaweed, she strives to reflect the variety and beauty of the local ecosystem.

“My art is a lens, an entrance, for individuals to begin to explore their own inter-connectedness to this world and their own journey of pondering and creating,” Murphy said.

A naturalist and guide in the area for years, Murphy has long been inspired by the rhythm, cycles and seasons of Kachemak Bay. Some of her earliest creative explorations included traditional medieval illuminated calligraphy and miniature watercolors. Later, she began experimenting with what have become the mediums she nurtures today — bookbinding, weaving, pigment making, paper making and photography.

Among Murphy’s creations are hand-bound, folded hexagonal books made from seaweed paper, salmon skin and shell covers, hand woven ribbon bookmarks and shell clasps, as well as calligraphy work, including accordion books inspired by nibs and ink that were her introduction to the medium. Making her own pigments from local rocks and shells, Murphy follows in the footsteps of the ages-old process evidenced in rock paintings around the world, including pictographs found around Kachemak Bay and Cook Inlet. Incorporating color palettes influenced by natural elements like bird plumage and marine life, she hand weaves bands that are used as book ribbons, book clasps and key chains. Finally, Murphy pursues photography, capturing images of bears, whales and life in the intertidal zone, like mussels, sea stars and more.

“Being able to weave all these different mediums into one creative outlet is what keeps my art exciting and interesting for me,” she said.

In 2022, her handmade books were chosen to be included in Bunnell Street Art Center’s annual Community Supported Art program, and she produced 30 small hand-bound books for the CSA boxes. Now she is moving in the direction of producing one-of-a-kind pieces, including work she has not seen anyone else creating.

Murphy appreciates small details and enjoys working in tiny scales, like her books and calligraphy that are typically smaller than 3 to 4 inches. Even her one-quarter-inch-wide bookmark ribbons and book clasps are hand woven on a small loom from dozens of fine threads.

“Small doesn’t mean simple,” she said. “Each component of what I work with is carefully collected or created — I make my paints from rock pigments and paper from seaweed. I focus on making exquisite small treasures that will attune people to the scale of things in the world that they may walk past and never see, much less value. I incorporate material from the natural world into my work with the goal of creating awe and wonder and to inspire curiosity.”

One of four recipients of a 2023 Connie Boochever fellowship awarded to emerging Alaskan artists, Murphy has for the past year been shifting her focus from working as a full-time scientist to spending her time making art. The fellowship funds help her pursue this, while also providing validation.

“When I found out I had received the award, I was so grateful to know that I’m moving in the right direction,” she said. “I can’t do the projects I have in mind unless I’m working on them all the time. With this fellowship, I’m figuring out to support my goal and make it work.”

With the fellowship funds, she is purchasing materials, supplies and equipment for her art and building her home studio. While she is putting her science work on the back burner, her science background continues to inform her art.

“As a naturalist, I was always trying to get people to see and look at things in a new way, like intertidal areas and life on the bay,” she said. “Now I’m trying to do the same, but through my art.”

This June, Murphy will attend a weeklong conference on book arts in Oregon. In the summer of 2025, she will participate in the Northwood Book Arts Guild exhibit in Fairbanks. She accepts commissions and her work can be found year-round at Bunnell Street Arts Center and through her website, birchbarkstudio.com.

A hexagonal book created by artist Karyn Murphy is one of four works named for a 2023 Carrie Boochever Fellowship earlier this year. Photo provided by Karyn Murphy