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Alight and Allure EMILY MINNIE
January 18, 2020 @ 10:00 am - March 21, 2020 @ 5:00 pm
LOCATED IN THE COMMUNITY GALLERY (FIRST FLOOR)
Artist Biography
Emily Lambertsen Minnie is an artist who specializes in charcoal drawing and oil painting. She
earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Northern Iowa and a Master of
Fine Arts degree from the University of Tennessee. Emily taught art for three years at Tulane
University in New Orleans before living and working as an artist and illustrator for seven years in
Brooklyn, NY. In the summer of 2016 she moved back to Iowa. She currently enjoys dividing her
time between drawing and painting in her Iowa City home studio, working for the Iowa City
School District and family time spent with her husband and two children.
Artist Statement
My art practice is the study, investigation and re-creation of images that entice and allure me
due to the beauty of their light and composition and the drama created by the human form
frozen in a moment. I employ the ability of a two-dimensional artwork whose source is photo or
film, to feel personal and familiar while working to create artwork that is separated from its
source material’s narrative and considered for its core essence.
My charcoal series consists of 19” x 30” drawings on BFK Rives Paper. I love to watch the
drama created on the gallery wall by these black and white images. From afar they look like
their source film still. Up close, they reduce to illusions of light and velvety smudges of charcoal.
My wall installations are made sight specific to fit the wall. They are created from small, hand
drawn pencil sketches and watercolors that are scanned, enlarged and printed on pre-pasted
wallpaper. In a gallery, the change of scale to life-sized adds a human connection and the
enlarged nature reveals an exaggerated artist’s mark.
My oil paintings are created on gallery wrapped 24” x 36” canvas. My canvas preparation
consists of 3 coats of gesso with a fine grit sanding between each coat. While painting, I get lost
in the textured and smooth layers of warm and cool tones mingling together. I find great
satisfaction creating paintings of figures that, even in their stillness, interact with the space and
the light around them.
