Emma Garness (b.1974, Hull, England) is an artist based in Beverley, Yorkshire. She graduated from Leicester De Monfort University with BA Hons Degree in performing arts and visual arts. Her art practice has evolved through scenic arts, community arts, mural and design.
My work comes from a need to understand the relationship between spirit, figure, and the natural world. I’m drawn to the spaces where memory, observation, and imagination overlap where something half remembered or half seen begins to take form. Rather than working towards a fixed idea, I try to stay open and intuitive, following a sense of energy that feels just out of reach, something beyond what can be immediately seen or explained.
Drawing is where everything begins for me. It’s the most direct way I have of thinking and responding. Spending time painting large scale murals outdoors has been an important part of my practice not just for the work itself, but for the conversations and encounters that happen around it. I come away from those experiences with sketchbooks full of notes, fragments, and observations, which I later return to in the studio. These drawings hold both what I’ve seen and what I’ve felt, often blending real places with imagined ones.
In the studio, I use drawing to build and break down images. Figures, landscapes, and forms appear and disappear, shifting as I work, sometimes suggesting quiet or unresolved narratives. I’m interested in that in between state, where something is still forming and not fully defined.
I work with acrylic paint and mixed media, as well as wooden reconstructions and printmaking processes that involve cutting and layering. These methods let me move an image through different stages—adding, removing, and reworking so that each piece carries traces of its own making. I don’t try to hide those changes; they feel important, like a record of decisions, hesitations, and time spent.
Ultimately, I want the work to hold a sense of familiarity while remaining open and uncertain, like a place you recognise but can’t fully place.
Exhibitions
2026 - ‘Folklore, Myths and Legends’ group exhibition, Eastgate Studios Beverley
2026 - OPO Artspace Open Exhibition – Winner of the Hawthorn Printer Prize
2025 - ‘The Critical Fish’ Group Exhibition Hull
2025 - Treasure House Gallery Beverley Open Exhibition
2025 - Beverley Open Studios ERT
2025 - ‘Thinking Through Drawing’ exhibition, myself and Esther Cawley – ERT
2024 - Beverley Open Studios
2024 - ‘Gathered Creative Café, online
2024 - Group show – Salt Gallery
2024 - OPO Art Space, Scarborough, open exhibition
2024 - Find Charity auction artwork and design of first team BRUFC
2024 - Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, Hull On The Rise exhibition, group show
2024 - Eastgate Studios, Beverley, Winter exhibition, group show
2023 - Theatre Gallery, Beverley ERT, To A Living Thing, duo exhibition
2023 - Beverley Open Studios
2023 - Eastgate Studios, Beverley, Ancient Yorkshire, group exhibition
2023 - Theatre Gallery, Beverley ERT, Reimagining The Past, facilitated
2022 - Flow Of Words exhibition event, Hull University/Freedom Centre group event exhibition
2022 - Beverley Open Studios
2022 - Humber Street Gallery, Hull, HSG group exhibition
2022 - Theatre Gallery, ART & ERT group exhibition, facilitated
2021 - Ferens Open Exhibition
2021 - Fronteer Gallery, Sheffield, Grow exhibition, group
2021 - Streamers Pop Up Art Space, Beverley, solo exhibition
2020 - St Mary’s Church, Beverley, Nature & Nurture, Solo Exhibition
2020 - Theatre Gallery, Beverley ERT, SheFest, Interconnected #2 group exhibition
2019 - Beverley Open Studios
2019 - Freedom Festival, Hull, Paint group exhibition
2019 - Theatre Gallery, Beverley, SheFest, Interconnected, group
2019 - Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, Open Exhibition
2018 - Theatre Gallery, ERT, Beverley, ArtLife, group
2018 - Queens House, Hull, Creative ENRG solo exhibition
2018 - Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, Open Exhibition
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