BIOGRAPHY:
Emily Hinds is from Kamloops and has spent numerous summers on the Sunshine Coast, visiting family. When she wasn’t outside, a large part of her life was spent creating and making art with her family. Time spent exploring and connecting with nature are an important part of her life, and her creative process.
How people connect to the land they are from, and the ability to feel strong familiarity to specific places are a theme she is currently interested in. Connections to land and people are an influence throughout her life, leading to the exploration of places and emotions within her art. Experimenting with allowing an artwork to become a place is her current endeavour. Playing with large-scale pieces, immersive textile, and big brushstroke to convey a feeling. She is interested in finding new ways to work with paint and textiles to allow others into a new world.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
I am experimenting and learning how to evoke an emotion or a sense of place within my paintings and textile works, inviting the viewer to experience their own connections within the installation. I allow the paint to be paint and fibre to be fibre, working with them as they grow into something more spatial than descriptive.
I feel most safe and at home on the Sunshine Coast. Growing up visiting my family there allowed me to explore and experience the beauty with optimism, excitement, and wonder. These strong connections to the land and the people around me bring big emotions to how I view the place.
Drawing from my experiences, I bring memory and feeling into the work in a non-representational manner. I am bringing the sense of place into painting and textile works and allow the artwork to become a place in itself. For the artwork to evoke a feeling I work large-scale and invite the viewer to sit on the mossy textile mound, allowing an immersive experience.
An overwhelming size allows me to show the large role places have played in my life and bring them into a space that others can engage in the feelings as well. Each piece looks at different places where memories have been made that have stuck with me for years. I have found that through creating these pieces I have been able to revisit these fond feelings, along with digging deeper into why these places have had such an impact on my life.
