WORK
I am a student of the human constructed environment. My current body of work is a culmination of years of thought, insight, and study of the lived environment, as well as an extended metaphor for the search for truth and meaning in life.
My work centers on the intersections between quality of life, the lived environment, and the impact of creativity in society. I have been looking for ways to improve the human experience, and I believe that creativity is key.
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I see that our macro culture has become embedded in a material routine. This is not a new phenomenon. Culture has always demanded conformity although creativity has challenged the current ways of being. There is a strong human need for stability and order, yet, this demand can smother the creative impulse within. Balance is desirable, yet, there is a constant struggle and a tendency toward duality in the face of a reality that is highly complex. In the midst of a complexity that defies human understanding, there may be moments of absolute simplicity that illuminate a hidden side of reality. These are the challenges and processes that my work explores and seeks to define.
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I believe creativity is the birth of all energy into being. Art as we name it is the purest form of this creative expression. The integration of these creative expressions into the realm of daily living is my goal. It is my position that our society has been self-constrained to the realm of the mundane and the material in recent time. However, the materialism of human existence is not all there is. There is a creative impulse contained in every moment and action, although sometimes it may be imperceptible. Art that fills the space where we live out our daily lives has the possibility to impact perception, and if we are lucky, to allow a temporary glimpse into the creative force that governs our reality.
My works are conceptually simple. They are stark, yet due to the simplicity of design, the underlying conflicts in our perception of reality may be illuminated. This concept refers to overwhelming simplicity, much like the moment in meditation where stillness seems to exist, and but then it is gone, back to the racing thoughts and material concerns of the moment. However, even a momentary break from the mundane is enough to allow us to see the depths of existence.
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EDUCATION
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, 2015
Master of Science, Community and Regional Planning
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, 2008
Bachelor of Arts, Humanities and Spanish
Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude
ABOUT EMILY
I grew up in Dallas, Texas and went to college in Austin, where I lived for eight years. I'm currently living in Philadelphia, another great city for the arts. I have done (and still do) quite a few other things in addition to art, space design, and community engagement. I currently work as a research associate for the University of Washington on a study investigating the impacts of early life experiences on adult health and well-being. I am (possibly unfortunately) a systems theorist and practitioner, which means I naturally see connections between diverse areas of thought and practice. This innate holism is what drew me to the field community and regional planning as well as to quality of life theory and practice.
I have been highly influenced by the work of Martha Nussbaum, Amarta Sen, John Rawls, Buddhist teachers, and modern thought on non-dualism and metaphysical explanations of reality. I am also a Reiki master and have been practicing energy work for over ten years. I believe that our current understanding of reality, in spite of great scientific progress, remains essentially incomplete when it comes to explaining the structure of reality, especially when it comes to consciousness and general acquisition and retention of knowledge of reality. Part of this is due to the complexity of reality and the limited scope of our sense perceptions, including our ability to understand time, the history of past events, and the subjective experience of other beings. These limitations (among others) of our current abilities make it difficult to gain an accurate understanding of reality. These are abstract issues that I explore in my artwork. In my engagement and human-centered work, I work to improve the quality of lived experience by creating spaces that hold meaning and support quality of life for those who interact with the spaces and who attend the events.