Murgatroyd’s Garden: Behind the Scenes of My Recent Exhibition

Murgatroyd's Garden was an exhibition held at Kinvara Area Visual Arts Gallery in July 2025. The show featured a collection of ink drawings, ink paintings, mixed-media sculptures, and a visual display of animated selections of the 2D art projected with a holographic fan, blending traditional and digital media in a whimsical, folklore-inspired experience.

The idea for the exhibition came from a local witch character I discovered in 2023. Morbid Murgatroyd first “hosted” an exhibit for me at Brazco Coffee Academy, celebrating the launch of my book, Haunted Castles & Spooky Places. This book was a collection of ghost stories inspired by Irish landmarks and historical locations, told in rhyming poems, with accompanying artwork displayed on the café walls. The opening night fell in October, making it perfect for a witch to perform some of the poems as guests arrived in Halloween costumes, which many embraced the theme enthusiastically.

Morbid Murgatroyd hosting the "Haunted Castles & Spooky Places" exhibition and book launch in Brazco Coffee Academy, Oranmore, Galway - October 2023

I didn’t hear much from Murgatroyd after that event, until late in 2024. I visited her cottage deep in the woods of South Galway to ask if she would be interested in opening another exhibition in 2025. On the way, I noticed curious plants and animals in her garden, which I realized would be far more compelling to recreate in art than ordinary scenes. When I finally found her, I asked if it would be permissible to paint and draw the creatures of her garden. She was initially reluctant, but her stern expression softened, and she eventually agreed.

At first, my drawings and paintings focused on ordinary flowers and birds. But over time, the garden seemed to open up to me. As twilight turned to velvet darkness, I felt as if the garden itself was revealing secrets, whispers in the wind, subtle movements among the trees, hints of a folklore-inspired world beyond the ordinary.

The witch warned me gently that I was becoming too attached to the flora and fauna. At first, I dismissed her caution, believing she was overprotective. But as I worked, the creatures I was capturing on paper became increasingly mythical: mushrooms with skeletal faces, slime molds with central eyes acting as Murgatroyd’s secret spies, a tentacled beast prowling silently, and a venomous serpent capable of spitting black poison. These fantastical beings came to life through the holographic fan display, casting ghostly apparitions over the exhibition space.

A Chameleon comes to life in Murgatroyd's Garden at KAVA from the 'magic' of the holographic fan display

In the end, I realized Morbid Murgatroyd had been right, the garden’s magic was potent and seductive. Though I forced myself to return home, part of me still longs to wander among the magical creatures and secretive plants of her forest garden. My time spent there has left a permanent mark on my art and my imagination.

Morbid Murgatroyd gives a guided tour of the artworks created based on the mythical creatures in her garden, on display in Kinvara, July 2025