Morvern Graham has brought her love of folklore and magic to the 2025 Spring Fling brochure design.
Each year Upland CIC offers an artist the opportunity to come up with the designs that will be central to the promotion year the of Spring Fling, Scotland’s premier contemporary art and crafts open weekend.
It’s a sought-after commission that provides Scottish illustrators with the opportunity to have their work seen and enjoyed by many thousands of Spring Fling visitors.
And while Spring Fling itself is all about artists and makers in Dumfries and Galloway throwing open their studio doors to the public, artists from anywhere in the country can be chosen for the brochure commission.
Morvern, who lives in the East Neuk of Fife and studied illustration at Dundee’s Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, is a young printmaker whose work is attracting wide attention and praise.
A Scot with Scandinavian heritage, she has a fascination with the folkloric traditions of northern Europe – indeed she is a professional storyteller as well as an award-winning visual artist and designer.
The bold, colourful Spring Fling designs (which will appear on leaflets, the event website and the printed brochure) feature magical creatures busy blacksmithing, spinning and willow-weaving in their studios and workshops.
Morvern said: “There’s a sense of wonder about Spring Fling, it’s all about exploring and discovering these new and amazing creative people, it’s a trail of curiosity, and that’s the sort of feeling I wanted to create.
“Quite a lot of my work is inspired by folklore, myths and folk tales. So, I drew on those inspirations. The figures are like something out of the tales from Scotland or from Scandinavia that I love, they are all quite magical, some more animal than human and others human, but something else as well.”
Despite only having graduated in 2022 she was commissioned by V&A Dundee to design a bespoke print to commemorate its fifth birthday the following year.
While at university Morvern created a beautifully illustrated book called The Huldufólk which on ideas of hidden people or fairy folk (all the way from Iceland and the Faroe Islands to Ireland and Scotland) of mysterious creatures which are closely related to the natural world that we often can’t see, but that we believe in.
After leaving she was named one of AOI’s (Association of Illustrators) “graduates to watch”.
Spring Fling takes place across Dumfries and Galloway (from Moffat to Stranraer) on 24-26 May.
Each year it attracts thousands of visitors to meet artists and makers of every kind working in one of Scotland’s most beautiful rural regions.
It encompasses everything from painting, printmaking, jewellery, photography, furniture, glassmaking and ceramics to handmade chef knives, carved wooden mobiles, decorative metalwork, installation art, tapestry, costume and hats.
The 2025 event features more than 80 participants, 13 taking part for the first time.
Natasha Kinsella, Events and Exhibitions Development Manager for Upland CIC which runs Spring Fling, said: “Regular Spring Fling visitors always look forward to the unveiling of the brochure design – it does so much to set the tone of the event.
“And many people love to keep the brochures as a souvenir of the very special time they spend touring studios which are not normally open to the public and glimpsing the different worlds of the artists and makers taking part.
“So, choosing the right artist matters a great deal to us, and over the years it’s become a sought-after commission.
“Morvern’s work captures just how special our artists and makers are. Whether they are metalsmiths, painters, potters, textile artists or woodworkers, they all have the same near-magical ability to take base materials and transform them into objects of beauty.
“Her artwork also has a fun and playful quality which really reflects the atmosphere visitors experience when they tour the Spring Fling studios.”
Printed versions of the brochure are widely available at participating studios, in galleries and other locations from 19 March. A PDF version will be available online.
