Artist Statement

My landscape work is deeply influenced by the vast, remote landscapes of Ireland’s West Coast. I draw inspiration from its dramatic weather fronts, the land’s primordial character, and the scattered traces of past human presence. My prints explore the tension between human ingenuity for survival against the power of nature over time.

Through deliberate linework against unrestrained marks, I reflect on the fragile balance between human control and nature’s untamed forces. My process involves layering fluid, painterly marks in ink on a metal plate over drypoint or etched lines, then refining them through controlled adjustments. This cycle repeats until an image emerges that feels complete—like capturing a fleeting moment amid shifting weather. Each unique image evolves significantly before being pressed. Outdoor sketching remains central to my process.

Previously, my watercolour paintings focused on celebrating the civilisation of urban street life in the present moment — a theme that resonates with my landscape work, which explores related ideas from a broader, more expansive perspective.

Bio

Emma Fitzpatrick is an Irish contemporary painter and printmaker, born in Dublin in 1969. Having returned to Ireland after more than twenty years working in the UK, she is now based in Dublin while maintaining active connections there.

Her work is strongly influenced by the remote, natural landscapes of Ireland’s West Coast—a place she visited frequently as a child and where she lived for a year. Her work combines etching, monotype and drypoint.

In 2019, Emma was awarded a ‘Develop Your Creative Practice’ grant from Arts Council England to support the development of her printmaking. She has undertaken residencies at Cill Rialaig, Co. Kerry (2020 and 2025), and Brisons Veor (2021), and is a member of Leicester Print Workshop, Leicester Society of Artists and Visual Artists Ireland.

Her work has been exhibited across the UK including open exhibitions at Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, Bankside Gallery, the Royal Society of British Artists, Royal West of England Academy, Society of Women Artists, Ty Pawb in Wales, Tarpey Gallery in Derbyshire, locally in the Cank Street Gallery, Leicester (now closed) and the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin (2019). In 2023, she held a solo exhibition in Leicester.

Before focusing on printmaking, Emma worked as a production designer with RTÉ Television in Dublin and as a concept visu aliser on international museum design projects based in Leicester. She has also completed commissions for clients including a boutique hotel in Leicester, Canal & River Trust, and Leicester City Council.