Meet Emily Sullivan | Painter

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

Hi Emily, why did you pursue a creative career?
I’ve always loved art – looking back at little assignments from elementary school, anytime I was asked, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” I said artist, or art teacher. Art was always my favorite class at school. I didn’t think about pursuing it seriously as a career until I was applying to colleges. My high school art teacher, Margaret Copfer, encouraged me to try out for an art scholarship – I figured, if I got the scholarship, I would study art and art education. I won the scholarship and went on to study painting, drawing, and art education. During undergrad, I really fell in love with oil painting. My painting professor Bruce Erikson encouraged me to pursue an MFA, and I decided I wanted to study painting further and teach at the college level. I had a great experience at Colorado State University for my MFA and studied with Erika Osborne. Since graduating in 2019, I’ve been working as an artist and have taught classes at Pikes Peak Community College. I love the flexibility and freedom a career in the arts provides – I set my schedule and goals. It suits my personality and lifestyle.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My most recent body of work, Moments and Place, is inspired by an Annie Dillard quote: “How we spend our days is how we spend our lives.” The paintings in this body of work take place over a year, and use different colors on the edges and backs of pieces to indicate the passage of time. Four paintings in Moments and Place show views from my studio window, one for each season. They aren’t grand mountain vistas, but it’s a view I look at almost daily and watch slowly change throughout the course of a year. These images of the everyday encourage viewers to consider the beauty and value in the often overlooked moments in our lives, and the places where these moments take place. The show is up at Kreuser Gallery in Colorado Springs until March 25th and can be viewed online at https://www.kreusergallery.com.

My origins as a painter are in landscape painting – I’ve been particularly inspired by 19th century Hudson River School painters Thomas Moran and Frederic Church. Plein air painting also weaves itself in and out of my painting practice. During grad school, I focused on cloud and sky imagery, and recently more cityscapes and landscapes have made their way back into my paintings. Getting to this point in my career has taken a lot of work – “talent” doesn’t get an artist very far. I think a lot about Malcolm Gladwell’s idea in Outliers about needing 10,000 hours of practice to achieve mastery of a skill or craft. To be successful, you have to practice your craft as much as possible – which includes failure and mistakes. I’ve thrown away a lot of paintings over the years. In my experience, things build slowly – one opportunity leads to another, one set of paintings sets me up for an even better set of paintings for the next body of work. Any success I’ve achieved in my career is because I’ve shown up to my studio and done the work.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If Colorado Springs was “base camp,” I would encourage them to see Garden of the Gods, and also do some hiking at Bear Creek and Red Rocks Open Space. My favorite breakfast burritos are from Red Dog Coffee in Manitou Springs, and it’s nice to walk around the town. If it’s summer, definitely go biking on the Pikes Peak Greenway and stop at Crit Cafe for burgers. In downtown Colorado Springs, check out art exhibits at Kreuser Gallery and G44 Gallery. One of my favorite breweries in town is Bristol Brewing Company at Ivywild School, a great stop post hike or bike ride. Finally, dinner at Stellina Pizza Cafe is always great.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d like to dedicate my shoutout to my parents, who have always been hugely supportive of my career as an artist, as well as my husband, Dan. I also have some great artist friends who are always willing to give me feedback on my work, edit artist statements, help with installation problems, and more. Knowing all these people are in my corner helps make everything I do possible.

Website: www.emilyjbsullivan.com

Instagram: @emilyjbsullivan

Other: email: emilyjbsullivan@gmail.com