I was lucky enough to grow up in rural Devon, equidistant between moorland and coast. Weekends were spent visiting stone rows, circles and standing stones and holidays were spent on the south coast, beach combing and pebble collecting. During my degree in Fine Art I specialised in collaborative, community projects and public art which led naturally to my role at Oxford Botanic Garden as Education Officer. After many happy years amongst the beautiful biodiversity of the world I returned to my own art practice and teaching art in various settings. I now teach at Oxfordshire hospital schools, the Earth Trust and Sunningwell School of Art. I enjoy working with children, families and adults with learning disabilities as well as getting involved with community projects. I am a member of Abingdon Artists and also help out at Tamar Valley Vineyard, our family vineyard in Devon. I am a firm believer in drawing from direct observation, so you can often find me sketching in one of Oxford’s museums or whilst out and about with my family.

Emma uses the early Victorian photographic process of cyanotypes to create the base of her artworks. The results are stunning Prussian blue and white images of radiating patterns. To these she adds layers of pen and coloured inks. The patterns that she adorns her artworks with are drawn from archaeological artefacts and sites from around the world and throughout history. Recently she has delved into images of the electron scanning microscope to draw images that appear alien and other worldly. Emma ‘s first love was textiles and surface pattern design. Her images reflect that love of colour, pattern, abstraction and texture. She feels that she is mining history and modern science in order to understand a long-lost visual language of spirals, dots and labyrinths and pollen grains to create her own language which communicates and is understood on an instinctive human level.