Hardwick, I, pen and ink and wash, 31 x 27,” 2013.
Briefly describe the work you do.
Other than that, the work varies greatly. Sometimes it is representational and sometimes not; sometimes very meticulous and sometimes not; sometimes in black and white and sometimes in color. Sometimes the body is monstrous and sometimes not.
Tell us a little about your background and how that influences you as an artist.
I was homeschooled and visited many museums from an early age. My parents encouraged me to draw to keep me occupied in museums, and in general whenever I had to wait for them before I was old enough to read. I was a ballet student for many years; that has been important both to my drawings and to my ambition to design costume and sets.
The concept of the “artist studio” has a broad range of meanings, especially in contemporary practice. The idea of the artist toiling away alone in a room may not necessarily reflect what many artists do from day to day anymore. Describe your studio practice and how it differs from (or is the same as) traditional notions of “being in the studio.”
I live and work in rather cramped quarters at present, so being in my studio means being at my drawing desk.
After the Performance, XI, pen and inks, including metallic, and water-
color, 35 x 28”, 2014.
What unique roles do you see yourself as the artist playing that you may not have envisioned yourself in when you first started making art?
I had the opportunity to draw from cadavers, and the beauty of the interior organs has been an important revelation for me. I have done some wallpaper and fabric designs.
When do you find is the best time of day to make art? Do you have time set aside every day, every week or do you just work whenever you can?
I work when I am not at my day (my very early morning until mid-afternoon) job.
Icon,VII, dip pen and ink and gold leaf, 30 x 25”, 2014.
How has your work changed in the last five years? How is it the same?
I am willing to work on a large scale, I now work non-representationally as well as representationally, I am willing to make things that won’t be liked. The theme of performers seen off-stage goes back several years, and in general my style is recognizably the same. I tend to work on imagery in series, and the series are developed over a number of years.
Are there people such as family, friends, writers, philosophers or even pop icons that have had an impact on the work you do?
Nabokov, Grand Budapest Hotel, Jacques Tati
If you had an occupation outside of being an artist, what would that be and why?
Pastry cook, because I like small-scale design.
About
Chloe Feldman Emison has shown her drawings widely in the United States and Europe, while also making animations (stop-motion) and illustrations. She studied fine art at Williams College and at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford University, and animation at Forkbeard Fantasy in Devon. She was a visiting artist at Wasps Studios in Glasgow, and completed residencies at the Contemporary Artists Center in Woodside, N.Y., at The Old School Art House in Iceland, at the Vermont Studio Center, and at Can Serrat, near Barcelona. In 2013 she taught animation at the Eagle Hill School in Hardwick, Massachusetts. She has collaborated with the Elements Contemporary Ballet company in Chicago on the design of a new ballet about Atlantis slated for 2016. She was named the Mixed Media Artist of the Year for 2009 at the Cambridge Art Association, won a Spotlight on the Arts Award for Outstanding Emerging Artist in 2010, and a Board of Trustees Award from the Silvermine Art Center in New Canaan, Connecticut (2014).
The Studio
All images copyright of the artist and used with their permission.
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