100 Archive
The Great Wall of China
The Bridge of Tears
tHERE
Ellen Martin-Friel is a book artist, letterpress printer, graphic designer and educator from Dublin, Ireland. Graduating in 2019 from the National College of Art & Design with a degree in Visual Communication & Critical Cultures, Ellen moved to the Netherlands where she worked for a number of years as part of a studio design team as well as in a freelance capacity.
In 2023, Ellen returned to Ireland where she became understudy to Jamie Murphy at The Salvage Press. Here she has had the pleasure of working alongside Jamie on the creation of his highly conceptual artist books, focusing keenly on materiality and fine typographic detail. Ellen took up the post of Artist in Residence at NCAD in 2023, where she researched and produced artist books in Distillers Press, the only working letterpress facility in Ireland’s third level education sector.
Ellen now balances her time between creating her own work, her position at The Salvage Press and teaching at the National College of Art & Design. Here she assists Communication Design students in the creation of printed matter and technical skills. Since September 2025, she has been standing in for Senior Letterpress Technician Jamie Murphy in running Distillers Press print and typography workshop at NCAD.
Public Collections
Trinity College, Dublin
University College Dublin
Boston College
The Bodleian Library, Oxford
The British Library, London
Columbia University, New York
Georgetown University, Washington
Stanford University, California
University of Buffalo, New York
University of Manchester
University of Notre Dame
University of Miami
Yale University, Connecticut