Meet Emma Torrence | Artist

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

Hi Emma, we’d love to hear more about your end-goal, professionally.
At the end of my career, I want to be exceptional in my process, curious, more generous with what I’ve learned, a better listener and thinker. I want to compare my work to others less and celebrate the uniqueness in others and their craft more. So really, the end goal would be to use my art-making as a tool to craft me into a better person.

My long-term goal is to pursue a career in another field in order to sustain my art-making and to care well for my family. My college self would have been confused and maybe a little mortified that I would not pursue a career as only a professional artist, but as I’ve grown, I can see creativity on a broader spectrum informing other fields of my study and work. I think I was so stuck on being one thing and going about life with one job focus after college for the first part of my adult life that I lost some of those chances to grow in different ways. I can be a mom, an artist, and involved in another field and do well in all of those things. Of course this is with the understanding of my priorities and that different seasons will require different things from me. I believe my art-making and the way that I have learned to problem solve and communicate in art school and in my process inform all of these non-art areas in unique and positive ways.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I consider myself a printmaker, but I trained as a painter. Because of my initial painting background, I believe some of the ways I treat the shapes and light changes a bit. I moved towards printmaking, specifically relief printing, because of its interesting history, the space in my home was more conducive to it, and I really enjoyed the feeling of cutting through materials to make an image. It feels more like a challenge to limit myself to one color or just a handful as opposed to having a full palette of paint. I can really ask myself, “what’s important to communicate?” and “how can I accomplish that with only 1 color of ink and paper?”. Right now, my subject material mainly focuses on the natural world, considering textures and amplifying characteristics that I find interesting.

My getting to this point was a little convoluted, and at times, difficult, as I imagine, in reality, it is for most everyone. I graduated with a BFA in painting and Spanish during the global financial crisis, so the job that I could find was teaching Spanish. I managed a retail shop for a while, then we started a family. It was difficult finding the time, space, and energy to create. Only in the past few years have I felt the security and peace to be able to consistently make art again, but it feels like I am re-discovering some things about myself while learning new ones too. Getting to this point was due to surrounding myself with an encouraging creative community and other friends and laying out what my goals with my creating were. My time feels more valuable to me during this stage and I feel pulled in other areas. For me, time spent away needs to be purposeful and strategic, but also rich, enjoyable, and with freedom to play.

Working as an entrepreneur or creative, you’re by yourself, or at the very least, in your head a lot. I’ve learned a lot about myself and others, but I think something that I’ve learned is that sometimes you have to just start. Not being perfect is OK. Failing forward is OK. It’s movement, and if it doesn’t work out, you can still grow from it. So just start while figuring out what’s manageable and just enough of a risk. Let yourself be inspired and changed by normal life and the simple and beautiful things around you. For me, it’s outside. My children have really helped me see things in new ways and slow down and look more closely at the typically unseen details around me.

Something that really drew me to printmaking was it initially being used to communicate to larger numbers of normal people. I want that to be something that I use it for too to an extent. I imagine I’ll paint more one day, but right now, I love that my art is accessible for people like me to collect while still being able to use high-quality materials. My subject material, even though I’m drawing from my specific experience, still shares common threads with many people. That shared interest or connection with other people is important and motivating to me.

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.
My favorite activities involve food and walking/riding bikes, so this is what we’d do a whole lot of.
We’d ride bikes to the little diner close by, aptly named Little City Diner in Winterville. Biking (or rollerblading!) the Firefly trail or Greenway and visiting the new gallery at the Winterville Cultural Center. Some favorite restaurants to visit are Cali-N-Tito’s, Nighthawk Lounge for fancy drinks, La Michoacana for paletas, and Tlaloc.
The University of Georgia brings a lot of special energy to our area and we’re grateful to be only 10 minutes away from campus. Visiting the Georgia Museum of Art to see their normal or special collections or when they’re showcasing an exit show for a student is always inspiring. We love walks and picnics on North Campus, looking at buildings and trees or visiting one of the gardens. A slow hike at Lake Herrick or the Georgia State Botanical Gardens is always a good idea.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d love to dedicate this to my Mema Betty. She retired from a long career as an English literature teacher to be curious, travel, paint, garden and spend time with me.

I’d also love to mention my beautiful community and family here in Athens, GA – some are kindred creative folks and others are dear friends who are supportive and loving in my creative ventures, a community where we can share hard things and laugh a lot too.

Website: https://emmatorrence.etsy.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/emmatorrencemakes

Image Credits
Matt Brewster