Emily Beveridge
"Work is love made visible."- Khalil Gibran
Artist Statement:
As long as I can remember, making art has been the only thing that fully engages me, fully enthralls me. As I sit in front of a piece, time will stop, hours will slip by and I will end a painting session with a deep feeling of contentment. But the process does not end when I leave the studio. I hope my audience feels the same delight and fascination about my paintings that I do as I create them.
Using spray paint, acrylic, and marker, my work tends to have a childlike, naïve quality to it. Yet the images are rich with symbolism and subversion. Many of the pieces are symmetrical, which contrasts nicely and gives order to the more whimsical elements. Themes that are often explored in my work are animals, tragic humor, and personal memories. For influences, I find myself drawn to folk art, works made by other cultures, cartoons, and religious iconography. The style of the California Funk Movement, particularly that of Roy De Forest, has also affected my work.
In my experience, painting and life are merely balancing acts of accident and control, and this knowledge has served me well in both. Over the years I have found that I am becoming more comfortable with myself as a person as well as an artist. The joy I feel making the art, as well as seeing it bring joy to others, is where I experience true success.
As long as I can remember, making art has been the only thing that fully engages me, fully enthralls me. As I sit in front of a piece, time will stop, hours will slip by and I will end a painting session with a deep feeling of contentment. But the process does not end when I leave the studio. I hope my audience feels the same delight and fascination about my paintings that I do as I create them.
Using spray paint, acrylic, and marker, my work tends to have a childlike, naïve quality to it. Yet the images are rich with symbolism and subversion. Many of the pieces are symmetrical, which contrasts nicely and gives order to the more whimsical elements. Themes that are often explored in my work are animals, tragic humor, and personal memories. For influences, I find myself drawn to folk art, works made by other cultures, cartoons, and religious iconography. The style of the California Funk Movement, particularly that of Roy De Forest, has also affected my work.
In my experience, painting and life are merely balancing acts of accident and control, and this knowledge has served me well in both. Over the years I have found that I am becoming more comfortable with myself as a person as well as an artist. The joy I feel making the art, as well as seeing it bring joy to others, is where I experience true success.
Biography
One of my earliest memories is of scribbling on a wall with a turquoise crayon. I can even remember the pattern of the wallpaper I was scribbling on. So even at age three, art making was a driving force in my life. Although I was born in New York City, I grew up in Sylvania, a suburb of Toledo, Ohio. I always felt a little “different” than most people living in my town. Growing up, I filled notepads with animal drawings, and loved watching cartoons for hours, trying to pick apart how they were made. Today I still use animal imagery in my work; cartoons and their humor influence my work as well.
I attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, where I received my BFA in Painting in 2006. The same summer I completed my degree, I married my beloved husband, and I also began a two-year Americorps VISTA term at Federal Valley Resource Center in Stewart, Ohio. Serving as a VISTA was an experience I will never forget. During my term I rented out studio spaces to Ohio University School of Art Professors, and received two Ohio Art Council Grants for a monthly Concert Series held at the Center. However, during this time, my art took a back seat to my service.
In 2008 I completed a series of 12 paintings about extinct bird species called “Silent Flight”. Since 2005 I have created posters for my husband’s dance night he DJ’s called “Dance or Die”. Over the years I have made well over 100 posters for him, and I continue this labor of love today. Currently I live in Athens with my husband and two dogs, and enjoy the use of a large attic/painting studio that I now use full time for my own work as well as commissions.
I attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, where I received my BFA in Painting in 2006. The same summer I completed my degree, I married my beloved husband, and I also began a two-year Americorps VISTA term at Federal Valley Resource Center in Stewart, Ohio. Serving as a VISTA was an experience I will never forget. During my term I rented out studio spaces to Ohio University School of Art Professors, and received two Ohio Art Council Grants for a monthly Concert Series held at the Center. However, during this time, my art took a back seat to my service.
In 2008 I completed a series of 12 paintings about extinct bird species called “Silent Flight”. Since 2005 I have created posters for my husband’s dance night he DJ’s called “Dance or Die”. Over the years I have made well over 100 posters for him, and I continue this labor of love today. Currently I live in Athens with my husband and two dogs, and enjoy the use of a large attic/painting studio that I now use full time for my own work as well as commissions.
