Meet Emily Knight | Fine Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Emily Knight and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Emily, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
Balance can be an illusive thing when it comes to life and work. Seasons of life call for more or less and this constant Balance is a beautiful word and an ideal concept. To be maintained, intentional awareness and ‘just right’ influencing elements. A rock balances on a cliff when all factors of placement, weight, connection and environment allow it to do so. So while it looks effortless, its balance occurs because things are just right. Beautiful, but devastating if the balance is upset.

With this in mind, I feel its best to approach the current day human challenge of work/life balance – to somehow maintain harmony of all elements in life; the “have tos” and the “want tos” – with flexibility and intuition. Spending time tuning in to what I truly need and knowing that those needs wax and wane allows me to measure my level of balance with authenticity – doing my best not to measure with an outside lens… with an ideal outcome of Work/Life balance is a concept in its own that can cause a lot of stress and personal judgement.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Fine Art has played a major role in most of my life. Currently, I am exploring the traditional art medium of Landscape Oil painting. My work is inspired by time and place and what I carry with me – mediative scenes that capture a feeling or a memory. When I am painting landscapes, it is traveling without moving. Using line, shape and color to create a space for reflection and dreaming. To me, landscape painting is a celebration of the earth and the perspective from which a human sees it; the way layers, colors and textures come together to create variety, depth and mystery.

My Fine Art relationship started in high school – where I unearthed previously unknown style and vision – I found I have a voice as an artist. I was fortunate to attend a high school with encouraging Art Teachers who created space for me to explore the fine arts with safety. My senior year I was a teaching assistant in a Photo 1 Darkroom class. The teacher let me lead much of the lessons and mentor students. This is when I heard the calling to being an art educator.

Attending Colorado State University – majoring in Painting and Art Education – I developed studio skills and pedagogy which supported my career trajectory, and in 2007 I was hired to teach Fine Art at Montbello High School in Denver, CO. Facilitating students’ access and exposure to Art – the process, the product, the history and language – was an exercise in developing artistic voices; my own and that of my students.

In recent years, stepping out of the classroom and into educational leadership, I have been able to focus on my personal direction in the Fine Arts. This time has yielded my current work of Landscapes and has allowed me to step even further out of the “day job” and pursue art shows, commissions and wholesale relationships across the state. It is exhilarating to find myself getting closer and closer to a full time Artist.

My focus for the year is to teach more workshops, travel through the state with more art shows and continue to develop my artistic voice. To create more.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
A perfect few days in the Denver area would start with a yoga class at Core Power and then a facial at Alchemy Face Bar on Tennyson St followed by lunch at Vital Root and a walk around Sloan’s Lake. After a nap and a shower – meet friends on the roof top of the Museum of Contemporary Art – sipping a cocktail and over looking the city after absorbing the current exhibit. The night should end at the Bluebird for some live music of hopefully; Phosphorescent or Beach House, would be great.

Day two – waking up in Golden, Co (2o minutes west of Denver and where I live) – grab some Bonfire Burritos and ride road bikes up Lookout Mountain – look out to east the horizon line to gain a little perspective. In the evening, cruise to downtown Golden on eBikes; check out the current exhibit at the Foothills Art Center and enjoy a farm to table dinner at Abejas.

Day three – jump in the car, with mountain bikes and my husband’s raft in tow – cruise west on 285 to Salida for a float down the Arkansas River and then some great mountain biking, specifically Chicken Dinner Trail. After, do some window shopping and grab a coffee, and probably some beautiful goods at HOWL Mercantile in downtown Salida. Then head north toward Buena Vista for a soak at Cottonwood Hot Springs.

I could go on and on for days, as Colorado is full of gems – but these first few days seem pretty perfect; self-care, art, bikes and views!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
For most of my life I have been surrounded by amazing female artists and have been fortunate to call them my dear friends. Through our years of friendship, they have each encouraged my personal development and confidence as an artist. They have each been a constant in my life – to encourage, critique and inspire my work. My life would be much less inspired without these women; Andi Kilness of Good Hearted Woman ceramics, Sheila Dunn of Sheila Dunn Art and Gretchen Leggitt of Hydrascape Stickers.

Website: patternco.co

Instagram: @_pattern_co

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Image Credits
Photographs courtesy of Simone Schiess Photography or the artist