Emma Louise Woolley

Emma Louise Woolley is a multidisciplinary artist based in Birmingham, as a Senior Art Director, she runs a design studio at the custard factory in Digbeth. Outside of YST design studio, she works in multiple disciplines from painting to drawing and traditional printmaking. Emma graduated at Wolverhampton School of Art having completed a Fine Arts BA hons degree, in the early 2000’s she became a resident artist in South Birmingham. After several years of residency, Emma took a sidestep in her creative career and went to Coventry School of Art and completed a BA hons degree in Graphic Design and Illustration. 

Emma is a painter of portraits. Her work focuses mostly on the human form, her interests involve the connection between the sitter and herself. The idea is to explore and interpret the deeper soul of each subject she paints, prints, or sketches: “Painting for me is very meditative, when I push paint around the canvas, a deeper instinct kicks in. At this point there is nothing else in the world other than the canvas the paint and me. Endlessly exploring new techniques and ideas on canvas, fuels my deeper passion for painting.”   

Emma has an interest in mythology and the origins of folklore, she is particularly interested in the narratives that have played a fundamental role in society and how these have evolved over time. Some of these explorations can be seen though out her portrait work specifically in her printmaking works. Her influences include artists such as Lucian Freud, Jenny Saville, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat.