TAKE ME THERE

Take Me There
The Land: wise in her antiquity, beautiful in her resilience.

My practice is a natural inquisition fulfilling my innate desire to be in the landscape. Over time I have developed a satisfying fixation of both; the Australian environment, and the process of painting itself. 

Although the age of this land is beyond my imagination, it is evident in the challenging and uncompromising conditions found across Australia. The adversity within the environment is a great inspiration, showing that nature insists on surviving. The result; a remarkable beauty. 

Since June 2018 I have been traversing this ancient land and pursuing a painting led inquiry. Throughout this journey of embodiment and mark-making I am learning there is an undoubtedly present and intrinsic human connection to the natural world.

My process begins ‘en plein air’, although most works depart this reality of reference to harmonise with an autonomous state of painting. This unites the immediate surroundings with memories to express a deeper internal response to my sustained immersion in the Australian landscape. The works are infused with notions that the land is part of the human consciousness, finding it impossible to separate them; humans are part of the land and vice versa.

While exploring Australia I have experienced many extreme landscapes and have spent my time working in a ‘great outdoor studio’. “Take Me There” documents my journey into arid areas of South Australia and Northern Victoria, particularly The Painted Desert and Murray-Sunset National Park. This exhibition is a celebration and a visual archive, attempting to expel a faux reality of the desert being a barren landscape void of life. In these places I have witnessed twisted, stunted mallee trees dancing to their own tune and resilient, intelligent fauna joining the ballet of survival.

In today’s society I find it imperative to continue working in ways that express the very points of being human. For me it is this enquiry into the primordial thread binding us to nature and exploring the instinctive urge to make marks document my experience.

Originally from Orange, Emily moved to Tamworth for primary and Lismore for high school. After graduating she moved to Sydney for a few years and then on to Brisbane where she began her Diploma of Visual Arts at Southbank Institute of Technology.  She then enrolled into a Bachelor of Visual Arts at Southern Cross University (SCU) in Lismore followed.  Accepted, with recognition of prior learning, into 2nd year, Emily was granted an emerging art scholarship. This gave her the ability to buy and experiment with a wide range of materials and mediums, it also allowed her to maintain high grades focusing on her studies, treating it as a full-time job.

In 2015 Emily undertook an internship with Lismore Regional Gallery and had the experience of working closely with Hiromi Tango, an artist who made a profound impression on Emily, instilling confidence in her and supporting her to express herself as an artist.  She had her first solo show in October 2016 and by November 2016 Emily received a Young Regional Artists Scholarship (YRAS) from Arts NSW to complete a project of professional development. A second solo show followed at Lone Goat Gallery, Byron Bay, July 2017.  The show marked a midway point of her YRAS scholarship, 11 large oil paintings of regional NSW. Emily was selected to show 2 works in the Lloyd Rees Memorial Youth Art Awards, Sydney August 24 – September 2017, and was involved with numerous group shows during 2017 and more solo shows in 2018-19. A most recent career highlight was when she was named the Macquarie Group emerging artist of 2019 and now with her first solo show at Saint Cloche in 2020.