Artist Statement

I am an Irish painter and printmaker based between Dublin and Leicester. My work as a printmaker has been influenced by the remote, vast, landscape of the West Coast of Ireland.

I am inspired by the dramatic weather fronts and the primordial feel of the land plus the visible remnants of past human activity scattered around. I am interested in the idea that we continually try to control our environments in order to survive despite the chaotic impact that nature has over us over time plus the legacy we leave behind.

Prior to this, my watercolour paintings of street scenes were inspired by city architecture and a celebration of the present moment - both themes are related but with a different perspective.

The process for my monotone prints involves using a mix of painterly, fluid marks using printing ink on a metal plate and then altering those marks in a more controlled way and repeating the process until I have an image that I am happy with to print. I sometimes include drypoint lines or etching techniques for my monoprints. Each of the unique images on the plate go through great changes, as if changing weather fronts, until finally one ‘moment in time’ is captured when I decide it is ready to put through the press. Sketching outdoors is an important part of my process to help explore ideas and reflect.

Bio

Emma Fitzpatrick is an Irish contemporary painter and printmaker, born in Dublin in 1969 and based between Dublin and Leicester, UK. Her work has been influenced by the remote, natural landscape of the West Coast of Ireland where she visited many times since childhood and lived for a year. She currently uses monotype and drypoint techniques in her work but has used etching and lithography in the past.

Emma was awarded a ‘Develop Your Creative Practice’ grant from Arts Council England in 2019 to develop her work as a printmaker. She attended an artist residency in Cill Rialaig, Co Kerry, Ireland in 2020 and Brisons Veor in 2021. She is a member of the Leicester Print Workshop and Visual Artists Ireland.

She has shown her work in annual exhibitions in the UK including the Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, Bankside Gallery, Royal Society of British Artists, Royal West of England Academy, Graphic Society of Fine Art, Society of Women Artists, Tarpey Gallery in Derbyshire and the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin. She had a solo show of work in Leicester in 2023.

In the past, Emma had worked as a RTE Television Production Designer in Dublin and as a Concept Design Visualiser on international museum design projects from Leicester before focusing on her own work in printmaking and painting. She was commissioned to produce paintings for various projects including for a boutique hotel, Canal & River Trust and Leicester City Council.