Room to Wander: Emma Gerig

Read our interview with Emma Gerig below on making space for curiosity, following inspiration at her own pace, and finding a flow state - one album and a handful of Skittles at a time.

Uprise Art: Where are you from and where are you currently based?

Emma Gerig: I’m from Goshen, Indiana originally and spent a decade in Portland, Oregon. I’ve recently relocated back to Indiana (Indianapolis area).

UA: What necessities do you require when making your art?

EG: My painting process is like a slow build to a high-energy painting session. There’s a lot of drawing, reconfiguring, exploring, and re-drawing that happens. When the time comes to put paint to canvas, I have a couple of go-to albums that help me stay in my flow state for the duration of a 2+ hour paint session. It’s an…eclectic mix…that I’m not sure how they came into my studio practice. Albums like The Phantom Thread soundtrack, Nina with Strings (Nina Simone), The Bulgarian State Television Female Choir, William Onyebar. It’s not a strict set list, but I love my noise-canceling headphones and one of these albums, even though it’s just me in the studio. Oh, and I’m not usually a sweet tooth, but I do love chewing on some candy while I paint. Skittles are a regular go-to.

UA: Describe a typical day in the studio for you.

EG: If I haven’t started a new painting, it’s usually a day of going through old drawings, photographs, and reference imagery. I like to give myself space and time to find the spark of a composition or idea. If nothing comes to me, then a few hours of sifting through ideas is followed by a walk and a nap and maybe some reading. Sometimes it’s not until after dinner that an idea or an urge to paint will hit, and that’s when I like to eat some candy and start painting. It’s definitely not like a typical workday, but my painting style and the way I work necessitates that specific feeling of inspiration that I seek out during the day. Sometimes I’m lucky and wake up ready to paint! But I’ve been painting for long enough now that I know when I’ve forced the feeling versus when I’m truly ready to paint, and I’ve observed myself long enough to know how to get there.

UA: What is the most difficult part of the artistic process for you?

EG: Finding time to fully commit to the process. When I first started working as an artist and acknowledged that my working style is not a 9-to-5 kind of deal, I felt insufficient and lazy (I grew up with a Midwestern work ethic). But as I’ve gone along with my studio practice, the more I fight the way I work, the less work I do, so it’s very important to maintain chunks of unfettered time to work this way. Setting enough time aside where daily life tasks and socializing and other responsibilities don’t completely fall to the wayside, but enough space to really let myself wander and be free in my process, is really the sweet spot (I rarely land that perfectly).

UA: Are there any aspects of your process that are left to chance?

EG: The chance part is really the not-knowing when the painting will present itself to me.

There is, and yet there isn’t, a formula to my process. It’s very important to trick the spontaneous-energy part of myself into believing my next painting is a new idea to me. I need the excitement, the curiosity of where a painting could go.

Emma Gerig

UA: How do you choose your materials?

EG: My use of materials is really how I keep spontaneity alive in my painting. I love having a way to build up layers, and the paint itself needs to have a matte finish. I’ve spent many years experimenting with a wide range of materials but have landed on Flashe paint for both its color selection and finish, and I usually start off a painting on unprimed canvas with an acrylic drawing that I eventually prime over and then paint with my palette that I’ve developed. Getting to this point was many years of many failures, and slowly piecing together exactly what each part of my process needs to do for the finished work.

UA: How has your work developed in the past few years, and how do you see it evolving in the future?

EG: I continue to have failures in my painting practice, and those failures slowly accumulate and adjust the process. I doubt my process will ever truly solidify into one way of working; rather, it is the amalgamation of time spent with my materials and processes that shifts my work.

I’m not clairvoyant about my own studio practice, but I do know it is ever-evolving, and I can never resist the urge to try something new in my work every now and then.

Emma Gerig

UA: Can you talk about the importance of drawing in your practice?

EG: Drawing is the backbone of my practice. But the drawings are their own separate work. I rarely do formal studies for a painting. My drawings are almost always done on tiny Post-it notes out in the field or sitting at my desk looking through photos I’ve taken. I have a specific pen that I use, and I like to keep track of my drawings in my sketchbook as a kind of grid. I scan these in sometimes and reconfigure them, but the compositions in my collection of drawings are the work in and of themselves. I use those forms I create as drawn images to inform the painting, sort of like cattle path lines on a hill, that naturally create the shapes that I paint around and within.

UA: Do your surroundings direct your approach to your work?

EG: The sense of isolation yet comfort are important factors. So right now that looks like a spare bedroom with south-facing windows. I’m particularly inspired by eco-feminist writing (my favorite book is The Wall by Marlene Haushofer), so a space that makes me feel alone with my thoughts with easy access to nature.

UA: Do you admire or draw inspiration from any of your peers who are also working now?

EG: Yes, too many to name. But some really important peers and mentors I’ve worked with are from my MFA program at Oregon College of Art and Craft. My conversations and studio visits with my artist and friend, Ryan Riss, whose drawing practice and commitment to material and process have totally informed my own work. Karl Burkheimer, the former chair of that program, has been an essential mentor to both my life and my studio practice, and I shared a studio with him for several years. Karah Lain is a painter in San Diego, and her collage-style work and critical eye have always pushed my own exploration and interests.

UA: Is there any artwork on display in your home/studio? Whose is it?

EG: I collect from my friends! I’ve got Ryan’ work, a small wood sculpture from Karl, and several paintings and collages from Karah. I definitely want to keep expanding my collection to other artists as well; it’s only been until recently that I have the funds to really start collecting, which I’m excited to do.

UA: Is there something people would be surprised to learn about you?

EG: I love rodents! Actually, people might not be surprised by that…

UA: What’s next for you?

EG: I’ve ended up traveling around quite a bit this past year and am very excited to be settling into life back near my hometown in Indiana. I’m working on two series in parallel, one based on drawings at my family’s cabin I completed back in 2019 and another that continues to explore my plantscapes.

Published October 2026