Enter the abstract

Emily Crookshank’s work is a captivating exploration into the material world. As a printmaker, observing the materials at her hardened fingertips has revealed a powerful and primitive fascination into the way such materials behave. As she puts it, ”It’s about staying curious and taking the time to see things for what they are.” Like watching flames in an open fire, Emily observes. She observes the ways that acid bites metal; the way ink catches and stretches; the way paper moves and moulds itself when wet.

Emily works in monochrome throughout the process because the image is stripped back to expose what she calls, its ‘Elementals’—ie. its line, tone, and form—which are the backbone of any composition. Colours can often confuse things but printing in monochrome unveils the honest truth of the plate; the history of marks, the tone of the metal and the balance of form. It reveals all that it is and nothing more. By digging deep into an apparently limited palette, Emily uncovers hidden truths within the materials that she has come to know so well, and in doing so, has discovered the utterly limitless nature of printmaking. Emily graduated from The Glasgow School of Art in 2011 with a BA (Hons) Degree in Fine Art Painting and Printmaking.

Exhibiting widely across the UK, her work has been shown in the Summer Exhibition at The Royal Academy of Art and has been exhibited as the Artist in Residence at the Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair. Last year, Emily received a grant from Arts Council England to fulfill an ambition that she has had for many years to set up her own etching studio; her new oasis.

Accolades

BA (Hons), Fine Art Painting and Printmaking, The Glasgow of Art, Glasgow, 2011.

Recent Exhibitions: Small Pictures Show, GrandyArt, London, 2020. London Art Fair, CIRCLE Contemporary Gallery, London, 2020. Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, London, 2019. VOID: Contemporary Printmaking in Thamesmead, Lakeside Centre, London, 2019. Living Lines, CIRCLE Contemporary Gallery, Cornwall, 2019. Small Pictures Show, GrandyArt, London, 2019. Print & Editions, Kobi & Teal, Frome, 2019. Affordable Art Fair, GrandyArt, London, 2019. Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, Artist in Residence, London, 2018. Brocket Gallery Residency Exhibition, London, 2018. Artist in Focus, Circle Contemporary, Cornwall, 2018. 

Residencies and Awards: Arts Council Emergency Response Fund, 2020. Developing Your Creative Practice Funding from Arts Council England, 2019. Artist in Residence CIRCLE Contemporary Gallery, Cornwall, 2019. Artist in Residence Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, London, 2018.