Emily is a San Francisco based artist. She began making art on the walls of her childhood home in New Jersey, much to the chagrin of her parents. After a confusing 4 years of college, with an degree in English, with a smattering of art and acting classes, she moved to New York City and began workshops in painting, illustration, design and metal arts at the School of Visual Arts. It was there she found her voice in art. This led her to reach deep into her psyche to find her "secret work," the obsession with shadowy female figures and the physical manifestations of their stories and feelings. Finding a studio in DUMBO she began her exploration into painting and established herself. Selling work through her studio and working as a graphic designer made it possible to begin a career in illustration and metal arts. Her sterling silver jewelry/wearable sculptures are sold in stores in SF. Moving to the west coast was a suprise, but such is the nature of love! She followed her heart and moved to SF, got married, and she and her husband have a beautiful son, Harry, along with their two cats.

My work is a personal and emotional journey. I use female figures to embody emotion through body language, movement and in the relations of the figures to eachother and in relation to the space on the canvas. The figures have doll like features, seemingly simple expressions meant to convey layers of hidden emotion and internal turmoil. These characters cannot speak, their body language speaks for them. I'm especially interested in how the body reflects emotion in the shoulders, postures and eyes.

I experiment with different types of material on the canvas to create depth and dimension. The gauze reflects a need for protection, repair, or healing. The string is binding, moving and flowing. The added dimension with the gel medium creates more depth in which words can be scratched, movement and form can be conveyed.

There are usually pairs of characters, on big and one little. These relationships can be construed as mother/daughter, outer self/inner self, conflicts within oneself and conflicts with the other. Through movement, physicality and the doll-like faces, the viewers are encouraged to project their own story onto the canvas. Keeping it anonymous, simple and childlike allows each viewer to reach into him or herself to react or take in the emotions the piece touches on for themselves. Psychology is always fascinating to me, how we become who we are through our experiences.

The figures are simple, in complicated situations. There is never one right story, it is left to the viewer to decide how they perceive the action of the figures.