Contemporary artist Emma Stroude shares her findings from the past 25 years of pursuing art in a wide ranging interview with Anjali Singh for the Asian Curator.
“I am interested in that moment when one accepted reality is revealed to have the possibility to change, a moment when the truth is brought into question.”
Contemporary artist Emma Stroude
Artist Interview
What brought you to the world of visual art and how did you start?
Times spent with my grandmother are my earliest memories of being creative. She had a vast knowledge of all sorts of materials and processes. She always had something lined up for us to do together whether it was drawing, painting, clay work, stitching, collage or working with wood. It made me appreciate the importance of creativity in my own life and also gave me an appetite for looking at the work of other artists. My family have always been supportive. They brought me to galleries and museums to see exhibitions from an early age.
I went to Chelsea College of Art and Design to study Fine Art Painting and from there I continued my studies at The Slade. My time in London was an intense 5 years of painting and looking at art in all its forms. There was no instruction as such but rather guiding conversations and discussions with the professional artists who were our tutors. Clyde Hopkins was Head of Painting at Chelsea at the time and Tess Jaray was head of Post Graduate Painting at The Slade. Interactions with other students also played a significant part in my learning. Those years really shaped the way I work, the way I think about making work and consider the art that I see.
“Subtlety allows for wider contemplation.”
Contemporary artist Emma Stroude
What is the primary role of an artist? How do you describe yourself in the context of challenging people’s perspectives via your artwork?
Diversity in the role of artists has expanded dramatically to become so broad that ultimately I don’t think there is one defining role. Evidence of this is seen in the wide range of residencies available to artists in all areas; from social settings through to ecological, scientific and industrial opportunities. Artists reflect what is going on in the world around us, like mirrors. But each reflection is presented in a new and individual light. By their nature artists are curious and obsessive. It is artists’ role to observe and question, not just the present but the past and the future too.
I like to challenge perspectives by raising questions or uncertainties. I think this in turn encourages others to question. However, I don’t think ideas or opinions should be pushed on the viewer. Subtlety allows for wider contemplation.
“Once I am preoccupied by a theme I am constantly on the look out for imagery I can use to explore that idea. I look for figures that I can use as metaphors and also figures that may appeal to the empathy of the viewer.”
Contemporary artist Emma Stroude
How do you deal with the conceptual difficulty and uncertainty of creating work?
The ideas that I work with usually emerge from my own experiences. In my last body of work before the lockdown I felt compelled to make paintings that centered on themes of uncertainty, vulnerability, illusion and disillusionment, positive protest and the human response to an alert. I was questioning how we recognise danger, at what point does something that we experience as being fun turn sour and become something to be afraid of?
“I look for figures that I can use as metaphors and also figures that may appeal to the empathy of the viewer.”
Contemporary artist Emma Stroude
Once I am preoccupied by a theme I am constantly on the look out for imagery I can use to explore that idea. I look for figures that I can use as metaphors and also figures that may appeal to the empathy of the viewer. Sometimes the power or presence that a figure holds changes during the painting process and I try to run with that and make it work, allowing the painting to take on an unpredicted narrative.
With regard to the uncertainty of creating work I think it creeps in in the form of doubt. Doubt is my frequent studio companion. Painting is always a struggle for me. I have to battle with my materials to get the results I want. Paint is interesting in that way as it tends to resist and fight back, often suggesting new ways of working and feeding in new ideas of its own. That’s what makes it worth doing. You have to struggle and change your plans and try new things to find some sort of resolution, some sort of final agreement between you and the painting so that you can walk away without it calling you back to work some more. Without the struggle the work looks flat and lifeless.
What would you call your style? Let’s talk about the evolution of your practice over the years. Tell us about your commitment your current medium.
I probably do have an evolving style but I constantly press against it and trying to break away from it. At present I am trying to loosen up and handle the paint more freely. I am pushing my colour choices out of my comfort zone.
My medium has always been paint. I was encouraged to make the leap to oil paint in college and I never turned back. Its capabilities are still presenting me with new surprises and new learning 25 years on. I do make charcoal drawings too. I find it a very immediate form of expression and a vehicle for working out what it is that I want from a piece of work as well as questions of composition. It helps me to step away from the photographic sources I use. It acts as an intervention that avoids too much tight representation when I move to paint.
“I am curious about the transformative power of colour. The introduction of a colour can change the atmosphere of a composition or give presence and significance to an individual.”
Contemporary artist Emma Stroude
What inspires you? Let’s talk about your frameworks, references and creative process.
Inspiration can come from many places. It is generated by experience; visual, auditory, emotional or physical. It comes from a compulsion to explore a question. Conversations often spark ideas for subject matter. Every now and then I witness scenes or events that I can adapt and use for visual exploration of a theme or a set of concerns that I am working with. I take photographs wherever I go, particularly of crowds (before the Covid 19 Pandemic). It is most useful when my subjects are unaware of being watched.
I study the crowd photographs to find interesting interactions that I can isolate or rearrange. New compositions and narratives are built from these. I begin a painting with an idea for a central character or group of figures, but it is never set in stone. As the painting evolves new figures may arrive and others may be painted out. Catalysts that sparked ideas for the imagery in recent works were the visual spectacles of a circus performances viewed at a local arts festival and the Colour Run. This is a charity fun-run appropriated from the traditions of the Hindu Festival Holi.
Contemporary artist Emma Stroude on her creative process
I search for atmosphere. My last body of work focused on an atmosphere of uncertainty, raising questions between performance and reality, safety and danger, fun and aggression. I am interested in the moment when one accepted reality is revealed to have the possibility to change, a moment when the truth is brought into question. There is adrenaline in that moment. I am curious about the transformative power of colour. The introduction of a colour can change the atmosphere of a composition or give presence and significance to an individual.
I paint in thin layers and take copious amounts of paint off the canvas as well as putting it on. This process leads me to work on several paintings at once. As I move between them, I often learn something from one painting that can be used in another. It can take months to finish a piece. The time factor is a part of the process because the way I think about what I’m painting changes over the expanse of time I work on it. Some ideas are left behind while others gain importance and develop into something more substantial.
What are you looking for when you look at other artists’ work? Which shows, performances and experiences have shaped your own creative process? Who are your maestros?
I look at art in all its forms from all through the ages. I try to stay open to everything. Although my work is figurative at present , it hasn’t always been and abstraction is equally of interest. I am looking to be mentally, physically and emotionally challenged by artists’ work. I want to experience that sharp intake of breath followed by the need to get right up close to the piece, the compulsion to engage, to spend time visually exploring the work and considering the thoughts and feelings it evokes and the questions it raises. Some works of art stay with me for a long time after the first encounter.
As a young girl my parents brought me to see an exhibition by Paula Rego at The Serpentine Gallery in London and those paintings have stayed with me ever since. Peter Doig gave a lecture while I was at Chelsea and that sparked a life long interest in his paintings and the way he handles paint. I have a visceral reaction to the immediacy and power of Jenny Saville’s work and the evocative layering and quiet atmospheres that Elizabeth Magill creates has me spellbound. I find Rothko very emotive. For hours, I can get lost in the fluidity of time and space created by Ian McKeever.
Source of inspiration: Figurative art
Looking back, I often refer to the work of Dégas for his use of light and solidity of form. I turn to LS Lowry to look at ‘crowd’ compositions. Most recently I have been looking at the work of the American painter Noah Davis. Areas of his paintings border on abstraction while others come into a sharper, more figurative focus. He cleverly used blocks of flat colour to piece together the compositions his figures inhabit, never once disguising the fact that these are paintings. I find myself transported and then quickly returned to my place as viewer. I’m hoping to get to see some of his work in the flesh at some stage.
How does your interaction with a curator, gallery or client evolve, from the initial interface to working-relationship?
My best relationships with galleries are the ones that have been built gradually over time. Good communications, openness, honesty and mutual respect is key.
Think of the biggest professional risk you’ve taken. What helped you take that risk?
In 2012 I left a full-time teaching position to commit myself to working as a professional artist. Financially, it was a terrifying leap to take and I feared for the well-being of my family. It took a while for everyone to adjust. And by sheer determination we have just about managed to keep the wolf from the door. My teaching years gave me a different set of skills from those learned during my own education. This definitely made me a more compassionate person. It all feeds in to the way I work today.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve received? Any mentor, curator or gallerist who deserves a special mention for furthering your journey?
Shortly after leaving my job I met an artist called John Maher. He took an interest in some drawings I had made and became a kind of mentor to me. He helped me find my way back to the substance of my work. His words that resonate most for me are ‘Stick to your DNA’. I have it permanently written on the wall of the studio. It’s about being authentic and honest in your work, painting what you feel you have to paint and not what may please others or what others expect of you. It’s also about scraping away the surface layers of thinking and getting down to the bare essentials of what you’re really about. We still discuss work from time to time and have a friendship that is founded on our love of making marks and painting.
Tell us about your studio, what kind of place is it? Could you describe your usual work-day?
My studio is an old Irish stone cottage with a tin roof, a ten minute drive from home. It is cold in winter but there is a stove for warmth and the view of the big wide sky and the mountains is very particular to this region. It has two rooms. I paint in both as I like to work on several paintings at once. The isolation of the studio is important to me. It gives me the space and the quiet that I need. I can work there without feeling self-conscious in any way. On average, I’m there for about 6 hours a day, 5 days a week.
As I am a mother of three, my hours are dictated by the school run. At a gallery nearby, I facilitate a life drawing session on Fridays. As a result, I often work weekends. This weekly practice of drawing from the body has become essential to my work as in recent years I have begun to focus more on the figure. The Friday sessions also add a social element to my practice. It’s a chance to meet with other artists which balances the isolation of my studio time well.
Are you more of a studio artist or naturally collaborative by nature? How do you feel about commissions?
I have collaborated with others in the past but I am definitely a more solitary studio artist by nature. I have done a few commissions and I am open to doing more. My first ever commission was actually a collaboration with an architect to create a series of paintings for an office building. That was really interesting. It was a good introduction to life as a working artist as I had only graduated the year before.
Do you handle the commercials yourself or is it outsourced to a gallery/agent?
I am linked with several galleries, which show and sell my work. Selections can be found at The Kildare Gallery, Hamilton Gallery and Claremorris Gallery in Ireland and also at Galerie Terbeek in The Netherlands.
“It was a very positive experience, even though, I was daunted by the prospect of revealing a brand new series of paintings and laying myself bare and open to criticism.”
Contemporary artist Emma Stroude
How does your audience interact and react to the work you put out into the world?
Unlike performing artists, visual artists are rarely present to witness the interaction between their work and its viewer. My last solo exhibition took place at The Model, Sligo. I took the opportunity to get direct feedback from the viewers at the opening by organising a discussion on the work as part of the launch. It was a very positive experience. Even though, I was daunted by the prospect of revealing a brand new series of paintings and laying myself bare and open to criticism. I looked for the audience’s individual responses before colouring their vision with my own words. I was reassured in listening to them talk. My intentions for the work and the impact that I had hoped for came through along, with a few unexpected twists that gave me food for thought regarding future ideas.
It was particularly fascinating for me to hear both female and male responses to work made on more feminine issues. Discussing the work in this way was extremely useful for my own development. It is an exercise that I will definitely repeat in the future. You can get a general idea of interest by putting images out via social media but there is nothing as meaningful as discussing the work with the viewer while they occupy the same physical space.
What are you working on now? What’s coming next season?
The lockdown brought with it new thinking and new ideas. I am working on a series of paintings exploring the notion of play as a rehearsal for the challenges that adult life presents especially in the context of living with the global pandemic. I am using imagery of adults at play as well as children. So that the figures’ activity is fast becoming a metaphor for our current experience and the challenges we face. There is an effort to balance in the new work and a certain loss of control. All the work is in its infancy but I can see patterns emerging. These deal with the sudden dramatic change to our way of living and the constant reaction and adaptation to the “new normal” that’s causing us to feel as though our feet are not firmly on solid ground.
What were you working on when the lockdown was announced?
After having two solo exhibitions within the same 6 months I was at a natural pause and heading back into the studio to focus on making new work. Luckily, I was able to continue working as my studio is close to home and I don’t have contact with anyone else while I’m there. For at least the first month I felt a certain numbness. My ideas just seemed to evaporate into thin air. I turned to drawing and thankfully the work began to flow again.
How has this affected your practice and plans?
My practice has not been affected as such but the lack of future opportunities is a concern. Although, during the lockdown period I did notice a wider appreciation for the role that the arts plays in all our lives. I can see that there are efforts being made to finance the arts. Hopefully this will mean that the structures we rely on will not face collapse. Only time will tell.
What would elevate artists’ life during this period?
Ireland is in the process of emerging from the period of lockdown now. While our movements were restricted I engaged with the weekly online ‘Artists’ Café’ organised by Visual Artists Ireland. It was a great point of contact that made me feel connected to other artists working in Ireland and was also a valuable source of news and information regarding our professional situation. I tuned in to a few artist’s talks too and took part in the Portraits for Heroes initiative which was a very positive experience.
What kind of critical inputs does the art world need at this moment to overcome the loss of income and opportunity as a direct result of the worldwide lock-downs?
This is a huge question. The impact of the global pandemic is only really beginning to be felt. It is so far from over that I find it overwhelming and impossible to predict or even imagine where we will be this time next year or beyond. I think we will have to keep evaluating and adapting as each new challenge is presented to us. What inputs we need may shift and change. I think fundamentally artists need to be valued, included in future planning and thought of as integral to the well-being and progression of society.
How are you balancing life and work at home during this period?
Lockdown actually provided me with more studio time than normal which I was grateful for. There was a strange juxtaposition of a kind of blissful existence against the background of a trauma that the world ‘out there’ was experiencing as we hid in our safe bubble. There was more time spent with the family, more time spent outside (Ireland enjoyed a rare heatwave for the months of March, April and May) and less pressure, less rush, less driving, less shopping, less stress. But all this was experienced in contrast to the horror of the information pouring into our home via the television and social media and the nagging worry for our loved ones cut off from us abroad. Now that we are beginning to mix again we are faced with trying to find our balance in this new reality. It’s not going to be easy. It’s going to take time.
For enquiries contact: personal email : emmastroude@gmail.com
Before you go – you might like to browse our Artist Interviews. Interviews of artists and outliers on how to be an artist. Contemporary artists on the source of their creative inspiration.