Emily was born in Cambridgeshire in 1978 and then moved to Wales in 2000. She gained a First Class Honours degree at Aberystwyth School of Art in 2002, and then went on to achieve an MA with distinction in 2005. We showed Emily's work at the gallery up until 2012 but due to personal circumstances, Emily took time out from painting until 2020. It is lovely to welcome her back to gallery.
The Welsh countryside has a huge influence on Emily's work and from her studio in Aberystwyth, Emily recreates the surrounding Welsh coastal areas, estuaries, and inland river valleys that otherwise might remain a local secret. Freshness and vitality infuse each piece; open skies, pale light and clarifying blues are what leads works to mesmerise and uplift the viewer. Smudgy mark-making mimics the wind-swept work of nature itself, bringing a rawness and elemental coolness to the two-dimensional picture plane.
"I return often to the coastal areas and estuaries of West Wales and its inland river valleys near my home, to walk and draw. There's something compelling about these places - the light, the watery expanses and big skies; their raw elements ever newly configuring. In the studio, I paint intuitively and try to let the materials lead the work to allow the freshness of the landscape to come in through the paint. There is an element of risk in this kind of painting which is important. It’s not just about the landscape, the paint itself, or my emotional response, but all three together creating a resonance for the viewer, a space for their own feelings to be present in their own remembered landscapes"
Emily has won various prizes and awards over the years, including the following:
2000 Erasmus Award, bursary to study Fine Art for one semester in Spain (Universidad Complutense, Madrid)
2001 David Tinker Prize, Contemporary Art Society for Wales
2002 Ben Bowen Thomas Prize for Fine Art, Aberystwyth University
2005 Selected for The Wales Drawing Biennale, Aberystwyth Arts Centre
2008, 2010 Selected for The Discerning Eye exhibition, Mall Galleries, London