When science meets art at The Base Greenham

Artist Sam Emmons features in the @newburytoday gallery

Mineral effusion, fluvial incandescence, molten effluence, pelagic current… certainly not your average description of works of art, but a good indication of what interests Basingstoke artist Sam Emmons and her ‘beautiful paintings which capture and evoke the elements of the world around us both physically, mentally and spiritually’. This graduate of Winchester and Wimbledon School of Art has been looking forward to getting back to her studio at Greenham’s The Base again and working on new paintings inspired by countryside walks, as well as commissions and other new opportunities.

Sam Emmons in her studio at The Base

“In my work I am continuing to explore my relationship between nature and painting, surface and texture. I am always inspired by the world around me and how nature is always changing especially the movements of water and how the layers of the world are seen.

“My paintings try to capture this fluidity, transparency, reflection, tactility, organic and ephemeral qualities, evoking the metamorphosis of life both in its inception and through the viewer’s interaction with the painting."

She achieves this through the tactile quality of materials used – such as oil and varnish. The paint is applied both through pouring motions and delicately controlled movements and drips allowing the material autonomy as well as the artist’s intervention. Different methods of pouring are used, and various textures are applied to the varnish at different stages of drying giving the surface an added element of growth.

Pelagic Pouring

“I love experimenting with all sorts of materials to see what effects and surfaces I can create. These often include sand, wire, threads, glues and papers as well as metallic paints and surfaces to give the painting a different life when viewed from various angles, in different lights or times of day.”

Colour is also an important element to the work alongside the materials and techniques used. It allows the two-dimensional surface of the painting to become much more as the voluptuous colour and liquid quality of paint alludes to three-dimensional form. A depth is created inviting the viewer to dive into the world of the painting where forms are suspended or growing from the surrounding space. Contrasts in surface, depth, illusion and object are evident in the paintings.

Molten Effluence

Sam joined Open Studios last year and much to her surprise her work was voted winner of the exhibitors at the scheme’s Insight taster exhibition which led to her own working studio at The Base, which has enabled much more productivity and opportunity – well until now anyway – now back to finding space in the living room.

Take a look at more of Sam’s work in the
@newburytoday online gallery