Abstract

Kevin Petrie, Professor of Creative Practice at the University of Sunderland, uses print to explore the novels and philosophy of Iris Murdoch writes Dr Miles Leeson. This is a 1200 word profile of Kevin Petrie and his recent work for 'Printmaking Today' which is the journal of the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers. The piece gives an overview of Petrie's creative practice focusing on the novels and thinking of Dame Iris Murdoch (1919-1999). The piece discusses Petrie's evolving model of creative practice for this project: reading the novels, sketching to visualise elements, developing and combining images in the studio and then reengagement with Murdoch (through the community, literature and archive). Petrie's 'Other Journeys' and 'Web of Life' exhibitions are discussed.

The author, Dr Miles Leeson, is the Director of the Iris Murdoch Research Centre at University of Chichester and Visiting Research Fellow at Kingston University. He is the lead editor of the Iris Murdoch Review, the Series Editor of ‘Iris Murdoch Today’ with Palgrave Macmillan, and has published widely on Murdoch’s work. He published Iris Murdoch: Philosophical Novelist (Continuum) in 2010, the edited collection Incest in Contemporary Literature (Manchester University Press, 2018), the festschrift Iris Murdoch: A Centenary Celebration (Sabrestorm Fiction, 2019), the edited collection Iris Murdoch and the Literary Imagination (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022) and is currently writing Iris Murdoch: Feminist.
Four prints by Kevin Petrie are reproduced with the text:

Untangle
2024
Etching from two plates with Chine Collé
Paper 38x29cm Image 14.8x12.5cm
Photo: Dave Williams

Friends
2023
Etching with Chine Collé
Paper 38x29cm Image 14.8x12.5cm
Photo: Dave Williams

Love
2023
Etching with Chine Collé
Paper 38x29cm Image 14.8x12.5cm
Photo: Dave Williams

What lies beneath
2024
Lithograph
38.5x28cm
Printed by Lee Turner at Hole Editions Newcastle
Photo: Dave Williams