Through
dedication and a passion for her craft Emma’s 21-year career has evolved
from beginnings as a children’s face painter and qualified hairdresser and
make-up artist, to a body illustrator and visual artist of world acclaim.
In March 2001, Emma won the coveted 1st prize at the CIDESCO
World Congress Professional World Body Painting Championship in Hong
Kong. With Emma’s co-ordination assistance, the event was held in Adelaide
the following year.
In 2004, The Adelaide Cabaret Festival utilised Emma’s exhibition skills to
feature a collection of celebrities painted as their cabaret persona as an
exhibition during the festival. Emma’s portraits of celebrity chef
personalities Ian Parmenter, Geoff Jansz and Jason Roberts feature at the
National Portrait Gallery, Canberra. In 2005 Emma collaborated with Deborah
Paauwe in her Dark Fables collection, featuring Emma’s illustration
on the faces of Paauwe’s subjects.
Emma’s Wallpaper 2005, 2007 and 2008 collections feature Florence Broadhurst
wallpaper designs combined with her body illustration. Continuing the series
in 2008, Emma introduced live native Australian animals into her work,
presenting a unique challenge to her imagery and creative process. The works
were exhibited during the Adelaide Fringe Festival, along with nude
landscapes and a continued collection of Florence Broadhurst wallpapers. It
was during this collection she began photographing the installations
herself, evolving her talents further. Emma’s photographic images were
exhibited at Art Sydney 08, and she was recipient of the people’s choice
Renault New Generation Art Award at this event.
Keen to continue her professional development and explore new mediums, Emma
travelled to China to participate in a large installation for Mont Blanc.
While there she travelled to Jingdezhen, where she visited and was trained
by artisans in the art of porcelain painting and met with her peers to
discuss techniques. The result is a stunning collection of porcelain busts;
a collaboration with ceramicists Gus Clutterbuck and Andrew Stock, which
demonstrates her diversity across varied artistic mediums.
In 2009 Emma created the Panoramic Bodies collection, shot on
location in the South Australian Outback. A team of acrobats and models was
complied to create unique body forms in the striking natural landforms. The
collection was exhibited as part of the Adelaide Fringe Festival 2009 at the
Adelaide Airport Terminal (T1) and featured three metre wide panoramic
images. Later in 2009 she was invited to attend the world’s largest textile
design fair, the prestigious Premiere Vision, an international expo
held in Paris, where she created a live installation on site by blending the
human body seamlessly into a textile design with body painting techniques.
Emma’s collection of Wallpaper images were also shown throughout the
expo on large screens.
In her 2009 Native Mandala collection, Emma has created striking
circular background designs into which her models are camouflaged, each
holding a native Australian bird, reptile or mammal. Emma has created an
environment, which bears significance to the species, providing a safe haven
into which it is nestled, and demonstrating the unique beauty of flora and
fauna that is quintessentially Australian.
Emma’s latest edition of the ‘Mandala’ collection is ‘Exotic
Mandala’, Emma muse are blended into Art Nouveau inspired, hand painted
canvases with butterflies placed onto the human form, creating a fresh,
multi layered effect.
Emma’s upcoming collection, Wallpaper Mandala, to be launched this
October 2010, features a clever blend of Florence Broadhurst’s iconic
wallpapers, creating a collage effect into which her muse is blended to
create the illusion Emma is renown for.
SOLO
EXHIBITIONS
2010
Elements Art Gallery, Dalkeith, Perth, WA
2010
Chapel Hill, McLaren Vale, SA
2010
Penley Estate, Coonawarra, SA
2010
Art Melbourne 09,
Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, VIC
2010
MANDALA, Frances Keevil Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2010
Exotic and Native Mandala with Broadhurst Delights, Adelaide Festival
Theatre, Adelaide
2009
New Works & Past Delights, Gallery 139, Adelaide, SA
2009
Art Sydney 09, Royal Hall of Industries, Sydney, NSW
2009
New Works & Past Delights, Frances Keevil Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2009
New Works & Past Delights, Obscura Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2009
Past Delights – SALA Festival, Burnside Village Shopping Centre,
Adelaide, SA
2009
Art Melbourne 09, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, VIC
2009
Panoramic Bodies & Retrospective Works, Adelaide Airport
Terminal T1, Adelaide, SA
2008
Recent Works, Art Images Gallery, Adelaide, SA
2008
Art Sydney 08, Royal Hall of Industries, Sydney, NSW
2008
Retrospective Works - SALA Festival, Dare Hair, Adelaide, SA
2008
Retrospective Works, Melrose Gallery, Melrose, SA
2008
body.art.08 @ The Fringe Festival, Tin Cat Gallery and Café,
Adelaide, SA
2007
Cowscapes and Painted Ponies, Paxton Winery, McLaren Vale, SA
2007
Cowscapes and Painted Ponies, Tin Cat Gallery and Café, Adelaide, SA
2007
Body Painting Broadhurst, The Arthouse Hotel, Sydney, NSW
2007
Oriental Delights, Tincat Gallery and Café, Adelaide, SA
2006
Yoga Collection, The Arthouse Hotel, Sydney, NSW
2006
Yoga Collection, Tincan Gallery and Café, Adelaide, SA
2005
body.art.05, Tincat Galley and Café, Adelaide, SA
2004
Adelaide Cabaret Festival, The Arthouse Hotel, Sydney, NSW
2004
Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide, SA
2003
Retrospective works, The Arthouse Hotel, Sydney, NSW
2003
Retrospective works, FAD Gallery, Adelaide, SA
2002
Petal Collection, Warehouse, Sydney, NSW
2002
Petal Collection, To Relish Restaurant, Adelaide, SA
1999
body.art.00, The Royal Hotel, Adelaide, SA
SELECTED
GROUP EXHIBIITONS
2010
Summer Group Show, Manyung Gallery, Mt Eliza, VIC
2010
Group Show, Frances Keevil Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2009
Xmas Group Show, Glenferrie Rd Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2009
Fashion as Art, Manyung Gallery, Mt Eliza, VIC
2009
Works on Paper, Francis Keevil Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2008
Retrospective Works, Brunswick St Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2008
Retrospective Works, Art Moments Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2008
Retrospective Works, Marie Hart Galleries, Adelaide, SA
2007
Catwalk Exhibition, Tincat Gallery, Adelaide, SA
2004
Erotica Exotica, Greenhill Galleries, Adelaide, SA
2002
Petal Collection, Greenhill Galleries, Adelaide, SA
COLLECTIONS
National
Portrait Gallery, Canberra, ACT
Adelaide
Festival Centre, Adelaide, SA
SELECTED
PUBLICATIONS
‘A fine
body of work’, The Daily Telegraph, Sydney, NSW, 29 Aug 2009
‘An
artist’s body of work that quite literally brings the walls to life’,
China Daily, China, 5 July 2008
‘Breathing
wallpaper’, NY Daily News.com, New York, 5 July 2008
‘My girl’s
a wallflower’, The Sun, London, United Kingdom, 6 May 2008
‘An
artist’s body of work that quite literally brings the walls to life’,
Telegraph.co.uk, London, 6 May 2006