Peoples Republic of South Devon

The memories and paintings of Margaret Murdoch

August 12th, 2008

There are strong themes of memory and place in Margaret Murdoch’s paintings, one of which is currently on part of the South Weat Academy’s summer show. Lee Morgan caught up with her and found out her ties to Dartmoor.

Memory runs through Margaret Murdoch’s work. ‘Your identity comes from your memory,’ she says. And the booklet she produced about her work called Memories in Landscape expands the theme. ‘Memories,’ it says, ‘in particular childhood memories provide the framework that my paintings are based on.’

It’s not a memory that is glamorised though.

‘A lot of the paintings I wanted to do are based on the memory of living on the moor in our cottage at Broomage – the cottage is still standing. I wanted to find out why my mother always said she was happiest living there.’

Margaret describes a time of outside loos and cesspits, washing from a water butt in the winter and travelling miles to collect drinking water.

‘We had a tap in the yard that was fed by the nearby clay works. But that would dry up and in summer to do the washing mother would carry the washing to the nearby leat. It wasn’t far, but it could seem long if you had to carry washing up there.

‘But my mother said she was most happy there. Why?’

Margaret’s been asking the question throughout her work, and compares their Broomage home to other cottages they lived in where the conditions weren’t as harsh.

‘I can only think of how I felt,’ she says. ‘And there was something magical about the place. Something mysterious. As a child there was lots of space to run wild, there weren’t any neighbours and you were close to nature.

‘I’ve pondered over it quite a lot, and even though the quarry was not that far away there was a special kind of peace there.

‘I’m not sure I fully understand or am

able to explain, but it felt like an adventure going there.

‘I remember one morning going to school and the dew caught hundreds of tiny cobwebs in the grass and bushes and they shone like jewels. There were always amazing sights to see like that.’

School wasn’t the best experience for Margaret who describes her slow journey into painting after a disastrous time at school almost put paid to any artistic career.

‘I loved botany and biology and I dreamed of art school,’ she says. But as one of nine she needed to leave school and get a job. She fell into floristry and on a Plymouth City Council run course at Prince Rock found herself drawing the plants again. From there she transferred to graphic design and through a number of courses and qualifications completed a fine art course at Plymouth Art College.

‘I thoroughly enjoyed it,’ she says of her art courses. ‘Because of my bad time at junior school I had always avoided putting my hand up and answering questions.’

At art college she tried to emulate the load her mother had to deal with to carry the shopping back home.

‘I wanted to revisit what my mother was doing. I always carry a lot more than I need, and she was always laden with bags.’

Margaret would carry her 6ft by 4ft canvasses from her studio to college and often need help with her burden. ‘We got a lot of strange looks,’ she said. ‘It was like replaying what my mother did.’

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Entry Filed under: Arts