Young artist Emily Powell, who was recently invited to paint the entrance of London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, is bringing a new show to St Ives.
The Birds and Me will be at the New Craftsman Gallery from 6th to 23rd May, exploring her daily relationship with birds, which she describes as occupying “that place between reality and dream world”, in the context of her daily walks with her new baby.
“This is an homage to the gentle seed eaters,” she says, “who sit in the tree just by the sea and lift my mind from day to day. The sea birds bring perspective to each of my walks with the pram, offering something so light and bright I feel compelled to paint it.”
As a rising young artist, Emily has made a swift and significant mark on the art scene, creating bold and brilliantly coloured still lifes, grand floral depictions, and images of ethereal flying wildlife in a wide variety of media, from paintings, drawings, collages, and sculptures to digital artworks.
Recent collections have reflected her journey into motherhood following the birth of her daughter in the winter of 2021, as well as the turbulence of global and domestic politics over the past few years.
Emily was raised in Liverpool and studied at Norwich School of Art, with a sabbatical at the Ecole Régionale des Beaux-Arts de Rouen. She now lives and works in Devon, and has exhibited with the Royal Society of Art, collaborated with MoMA, National Galleries of Scotland, and The British Museum, and was part of the BBC’s Documentary on the 2020 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.
