Dan Murphy

September 15, 2025
Susan Brubaker Knapp
Blog, Metal, Sculpture

Sculpture – Chapel Hill

This is one in a series of posts about artists in the Orange County Artists Guild.

What is your medium?

Sculpture using mainly metal… sometimes bent acrylic. I like the permanence of metal and the 3D nature of sculpture. Long narrow aluminum pieces (both gold and silver colors) are one of my main raw materials. Some people call the result “ribbon sculptures.” I also use mirror-finish stainless steel sheet. For the first 40 years, nearly every sculpture was either gold or silver color. Lately, I have gotten heavily into colors, with results I am thrilled about. And combining colors with the gold and silver finishes really works!

Do you work in a sketchbook or journal?

Do I sketch it all out before executing? In the beginning I tried that, but most of my work then was simple and almost more 2D than 3D. And it was mostly hard angle bends. Most pieces were bent in one plane. Even then, sculptures rarely ended up as I had pre-planned them to. Once my sculptures got more 3D and circular, detailed planning got too difficult. Now, I might start out with a general idea, but stay flexible, and go where the spirit moves me when creating a sculpture.

Do you have formal training in your medium?

No. In 1975, I was in law school at the University of North Carolina, following an accounting degree and an MBA and ten great years teaching and coaching in Chicago. I made a standup desk, because it was easier to stay awake, studying over 12 hours a day. Then I made a light to shine on the reading area and had seven feet of metal left over. That became my first sculpture. I spent the beginning of the following summer buying metal and forming it into abstract shapes. Then I took my work to New York City and got a favorable reaction. So, I decided to be an artist for a few years and return to law after, but I never returned. Full time sculptor ever since. This is my fiftieth year as a full time, self supporting sculptor.

I did grow up making things, but not art. Never worked with metal, though. So I stumbled through learning how to bend metal. I ended up designing and making all of the equipment I use to form metal.

Has your work been featured in a magazine or on TV?

Yes. This part has really been fun. So far, my sculptures have been used in 26 movies and TV shows. (There is a list of those on my website.) The most fun use was in 2022, in a Russell Crow movie called “Poker Face,” where the bad guys break into Russell Crow’s hilltop mansion to steal his art collection. Two of my sculptures get pretty good screen time!