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Meet the Artist: Marleen Murphy of Millside Ceramics

Meet the Artist: Marleen Murphy of Millside Ceramics

Get to know Marleen Murphy of Millside Ceramics in Kenhtè:ke (Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory), what inspires her work and some opportunities she’s had to share her art on a larger scale. 

Written by Allison Nichol Longtin

Read time: 4 min
Marleen in her studio. Photo by Allison Nichol Longtin.

It’s a beautiful day as I make my way along old Highway 2 toward Millside Ceramics in Kenhtè:ke (Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory) to meet with local artist, Marleen Murphy. 

Marleen is a Mohawk woman and a lauded ceramics artist. Her family-owned business, Millside Ceramics, has operated out of her home studio since 1998. Her pieces are crafted from earthenware clay and moulds, fired in a kiln, and hand-painted. 

Google Canada recently asked her to be one of only two artists commissioned to contribute original creations for a light installation in their Northern Lights room at their offices in Toronto. “I’m representing who I am as a Mohawk woman, as a native person,” says Marleen of the opportunity.

Marleen is warm and welcoming as she invites me into her home. She starts the studio tour in her new on-site shop. She tells me that her husband is a carpenter and built most of the shelves, work tables, and desks we see in her home studio. He also prepares Marleen’s ceramic pieces for shipping across the country. I passed one of her daughters on my way in and her good friend, relative, and employee, Tanya, is working away in the studio, painting ceramic figurines. 

Marleen got started in ceramics when she was in high school. She and her sister would go to a local ceramics studio and paint pottery. Years later, as a young mom, one of Marleen’s daughters was badly injured in an accident while getting off the school bus. The event brought things into focus for Marleen and she decided to leave her job at Canadian Tire to spend more time with her family. But, she knew that she still needed an income, so she started taking ceramics classes and working toward a teaching certificate. 

"Ceramic Cloud" installation in Google Canada's Toronto office; a collaboration between Google and Marleen Murphy, N. Santiago and Filipa Pimental. The ceramic bowls crafted by Murphy and Santiago, and cast by Pimental highlight the expressive textures unique to each artist. Image supplied.
Marleen at Google Canada's office in Toronto for a workshop. Image supplied.

Marleen is a rare combination: she’s an artist, a businesswoman, and a teacher. When she first started taking ceramics classes to start her business, she got certified to teach; teaching is a big part of how she established and grew Millside Ceramics. It remains an important part of her practice. In the early days, she led workshops out of her home studio. She then started teaching folks in their own homes. Now, she does a lot of workshops in her community, mostly on reserve. She recently led a workshop at Google Canada in Toronto for their employees. Google found Marleen through her website and approached her to teach their team about ceramics and Indigenous culture. 

“I’m passionate about culture,” Marleen told me. She wants to teach people about their culture. She didn’t live on reserve growing up and she wants young people, in particular, to know their culture. 

Millside Ceramics started out on the Pow Wow trail. Marleen and her family would load her creations into a little camping trailer and set out on the open road. Pow Wows are community events where Indigenous Peoples come together to share and celebrate their cultures. There’s dancing, food, and vendors; everyone is welcome. She brought her family along so that her children could learn about their culture. They would camp on-site and sell their wares alongside other vendors. “Mohawks are known for their pottery,” Marleen tells me, but she was often the only one at Pow Wows selling ceramics; most were selling leather goods and jewellery. She’s gone coast-to-coast on the Pow Wow trail with her family and her business. 

Many of her creations are rooted in her Indigenous culture. Some of them even began as commissions from folks who’d seen her work at Pow Wows across the country. A woman reached out to Marleen to ask if she would create something to help her remember, commemorate, and acknowledge the many lost children—those who didn’t make it home from residential schools. At first, Marleen didn’t agree to the commission; she didn’t want to take any money for it. She realized, though, that she could donate the proceeds to causes that were close to her heart by making and selling the commissioned object: a moccasin nightlight. She’s since made over 1,000 nightlights to represent the many lost children, “One for every child who didn’t make it home,” Marleen tells me. 

Marleen showing off some of her work. Photo by Courtney Klumper.
The Tiny Moccassin Nightlight by Millside Ceramics.

Similarly, Millside Ceramics’ “The Guardian,” an angel in a red dress, was created for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and began as a commission from a woman in her community who asked Marleen for something to help her remember the women. 

Marleen is humble about the many exciting opportunities she’s had over the years. Shortly before the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, she attended a massive Pow Wow at the Rogers Centre. What she didn’t know at the time was that scouts were there looking for vendors to be part of the cultural events surrounding the upcoming games. Millside Ceramics was handpicked to be a vendor in a gallery at the Vancouver Olympics featuring Indigenous artists and artisans. Marleen and her family packed up the trailer and drove West to the event, their creations carefully packed in tow. 

Marleen was the only artist from Tyendinaga at the event— it was a very big deal for her to represent her people and her culture on an international scale at the Olympics in Vancouver.

Millside Ceramics’ creations are meaning-making objects. When someone picks up one of her creations and it helps them connect with their own history—this is what gives Marleen “the warm and fuzzies.” She is deeply rooted in and knowledgeable about her First Nations family and community traditions; you can see and feel this in her pieces, including the Friendship Circle, Smudge Bowls, and Medicine Wheel Collections. Her culture and her people inspire her to create. 

You can learn more about Marleen and Millside Ceramics’ creations and learning opportunities on their website. Marleen regularly offers workshops for schools, organizations, businesses, and communities. She showcases her work at conferences, events, and Pow Wows across Canada.

Marleen's work on display at a craft show. Photo by Anna Fraiberg.
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The Bay of Quinte Regional Marketing Board is committed to acknowledging, appreciating and understanding the Indigenous peoples’ historic connection to this land and to raising awareness by building relationships in collaboration with Indigenous partners and communities. 

We recognize and acknowledge that we are living and working on the traditional territory of the Wendat, Mississauga, Anishinaabeg and Haudenosaunee which includes the Kenhtè:ke Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte) with whom we work in direct partnership with. 

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