I can absolutely guarantee that you will have seen Emma Dunbar’s work – so prolific is she. Since graduating from West Surrey college of Art & Design in the 1980’s, Emma has worked full time as an artist and exhibited throughout the UK. Her paintings have been internationally reproduced as greetings cards, posters, limited edition etchings and even fabric designs.
Emma paints both in Cornwall and in Hampshire so she often shows in the New Ashgate and also in the Cornwall Contemporary amongst other galleries.
I can’t date when I saw her show; it may have been in 2017 or 2019 – it was pre-Covid anyway. I mentioned to her on Instagram that I was looking forward to seeing her work, and when I then ran into her in the car park outside the New Ashgate and introduced myself, she said ‘oh yes, Fear of Paint!’ That’s my Instagram name for anyone who is interested.
Her work is searingly gorgeous, so colourful and full of life. Even the quieter works pull you in to closely examine a garden or flowerpot. As someone who adores abstracted form, I find her recurring themes of vases and jugs filled with flowers and leaves, never dull. These classic still-life objects are flattened and laid out against a ground which might be wall or table. I envy people who can take the simple and ‘everyday’ and raise them to such a level. Her use of colour is breathtaking.
At the end of her show, Emma took time for a question-and-answer session and was happy to chat about her work and practice. From personal experience I know that people are genuinely interested to understand the working of an artist’s mind – where they get their inspiration, how they see things; how they process that and share it in paint.
You can see Emma’s work on her website www.emmadunbar.co.uk
Tracey’s Chickens – 122 x 90 cm – acrylic on birch panel.
Image copyright Emma Dunbar.
