Emma May Riley
Lives & works in North Devon, UK
I create still-life realism paintings. The works share a common theme: to connect with simple pleasures that are commonplace and often overlooked in today's fast-paced society. I want the work to be immersive, to create a physical and emotional response in the viewer.
That same attention to the overlooked runs through my public work. I trained in public art at Chelsea College of Art and Design, after being selected while still at college to work on The Healing of the Nations, the permanent Millennium commission at Blackburn Cathedral. Since then I've made site-specific work in London and Devon, taught art across two primary schools, and founded and ran a community arts studio in Hertfordshire before moving to Devon.
My public projects begin the way the paintings do, by paying attention to what is already there. Sound recorded in the middle of a city green. Graffiti collected from beneath a flyover. Portraits of people running businesses that have been on the same street for decades. Whether the result is a canvas or something built to stand outdoors for twenty years, the intention is the same: to make people look properly at something they walk past.
I'm based in North Devon and work in oil, ceramics, mosaic and photography. I'm available for public art commissions, community projects and workshops. [More on my public art and community projects.]
CV
Education
2010 — University of the Arts London (London College of Communication), ABC Dip Interior Design
2000–2003 — University of the Arts London (Chelsea College of Art), BA Hons Public Art & Design
1998–2000 — Blackburn College, BTEC National Diploma in Art and Design; A Level Photography
Public art and commissions
1999–2000 — The Healing of the Nations, Blackburn Cathedral
Selected while at college to work with artist Mark Jalland on this permanent Millennium commission, an eight-metre steel and copper circle carrying interwoven fibre optics. Worked on community engagement and the display of children's work made in response to the commission, and attended design meetings with the fabricators. Restored by the Friends of Blackburn Cathedral in 2023.
2012 — Photographic commission, Dauntons, Pimlico, London
Two commissioned works for the reception space: a large photomontage of the Grade II* listed Lillington Gardens Estate, and a grid of portraits of long-established local businesses and their owners.
2001–2002 — Community mosaic, primary school, Shepherd's Bush, London
Large-scale mosaic serpent designed and fabricated with pupils, installed as a permanent exterior work.
2000–2003 — Sound wave maze, Shepherd's Bush Green, London
Temporary site-specific installation. Sound recorded at the centre of the Green was converted into visual waveforms and cut as large freestanding forms arranged across the grass as a maze.
2000–2003 — Found poem and performance, Westway, London
Graffiti collected from under the Westway assembled into a poem and performed in a Victorian-inspired dress made from second-hand fabrics bought at Ladbroke Grove market.
Community and participatory practice
2015–2019 — The Little Arts Workshop, Bishop's Stortford. Founder and Director
Founded and ran a community arts studio delivering weekly sessions for children and adults in ceramic hand-building, ceramic painting, watercolour, life drawing and mixed media. Responsible for programme design, teaching, premises, health and safety and budgets. Sold as a going concern in 2019.
2017–2018 — Specialist art teacher, two primary schools, Hertfordshire
2001–2002 — Participatory art project with young people in custody, White City, London
2001 — Creative photography workshops
Exhibitions
2021 — Aesthetica Art Prize, Future Now (May–September)
2013 — Solo exhibition, Pimlico, London (January)
2007 — Solo exhibition, Crystal Palace, London (August)
2003 — Group exhibition, Chelsea, London (July)
Collections
2010–2013 — Dauntons, Pimlico, London
2010–2026 — Private collections, London, Kent, Surrey, USA and Czech Republic