Emily Gherard (b. 1979), is a Seattle-based painter, draughtsman, printmaker, and is best known for her process-based work built from the accumulation of repetitive marks. Gherard earned her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, and an MFA from the University of Washington Seattle, WA. She received the 2024 Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Biennial Grant and the 2021 Joan Mitchell Fellowship and is a 2024 MacDowell Fellow.

She has participated in exhibitions at The Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner, WA, The Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA, and The Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, WA.

In addition, her work can be found in numerous collections, such as the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Swedish Medical Center, and Microsoft Permanent Collection. Gherard currently lives and works in Seattle, WA.

For more on Gherard's work, check out this recent interview through the Joan Mitchell Foundation.

My parents owned a small construction company called WEDLON Inc, an acronym for Work-Every-Day-for-Little-Or-Nothing. We moved regularly, following the work. As a child, I learned to link identity with work and accept the insecurity that this brought. The connection of labor to creation is carried into my artwork. I build my pieces slowly over many months. Even small drawings are repeatedly built-up, sanded, and collaged until their fragile existence feels inevitable. My current work consists of large monochromatic drawings and wall sculptures built from the accumulation of lines of paint and graphite, small pieces of wood stapled together, or plaster blocks. I base my forms on figures in historical paintings and drawings. I am interested in the idea that the work's emotional content can come through the labor of making and can exist without the obvious figurative narrative.

My work is visually abstract; however, I derive my compositions and forms from the poses and postures of historical figurative paintings. The artworks I select have a powerful emotional narrative conveyed through off-balance compositions. I am drawn to work that uses contrasting elements like stable verse crumbling forms to capture a liminal moment. I build my pieces slowly over many months; even small drawings are repeatedly built up, sanded, and collaged until their fragile existence feels inevitable.

I am currently developing an ongoing series of work in response to Käthe Kollwitz’s drawing, The Mothers, which features a group of five mothers with their children. Her image shows a complex portrayal of motherhood, emphasizing the different experiences of each figure through pose and a range of drawing styles. My work responds to the emotions and postures in Kollwitz’s drawing as a metaphor for my own experience with motherhood. Working directly from Kollwitz’s piece, I contrast my use of mark-making and materials within each of my abstracted forms to evoke the unique narrative of each figure. This series includes drawings, paintings, and wood wall sculptures.

Microsoft Art Collection

Swedish Medical Center

US Bank Center, Seattle WA

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art