Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Gray Koehler.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I do not remember a time when I was not making art or creating something. Growing up in Northern Michigan, I went everywhere with a sketchbook and pencils. I’m not sure there was ever any question that I would pursue the arts, but I had several mentors in my youth who both inspired and encouraged me to do so, including my mother, an artist herself, my elementary art teacher, and a printmaker friend of the family who let me play in her studio. Perhaps most significantly, my uncle, Ed Gray (Jikiwe), a regionally known ceramicist, showed me it was possible with sacrifice, dedication, and practice to have a successful career as a studio artist. Armed with their examples and support, I pursued and achieved a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis in printmaking in 2006 and set out to make my way as an artist.
In 2008, I moved to Minnesota where I found a supportive and vibrant arts community. I am proud to now operate my own studio in Northeast Minneapolis where I create my own work and also contribute to that same arts community that welcomed me so many years ago.
I cannot imagine doing anything else as a career other than being an artist. For me, making art is akin to breathing. I am grateful to those who have supported me over the years, making my pursuit of this crazy career both an attainable dream and a tangible reality.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I do not know any artist who has not, in some way, struggled for their work. Making art is a calling, but it is also a challenging one. Like so many artists, I have certainly struggled to make my career financially viable. While I do not consider making money to be a primary marker of success, it is impossible to continue making art if you do not have your basic needs met and have the time and space to make that art. My first studio was in the corner of my living room in a tiny apartment on the east side of Saint Paul. Eventually, I was able to move out of my home to a studio in an old second floor office space in downtown White Bear Lake. For the last six years, I have maintained my studio in the Historic Thorp Building in Northeast Minneapolis. My primary medium, printmaking, requires a fair amount of space along with specialized equipment. After working with second-hand and student grade equipment for over a decade, I was finally able to purchase a professional etching press in 2017 with the assistance of a Next Step Fund grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council. Making a living as an artist takes hard work, dedication, late nights, long weekends and even a bit of luck. I have worked hard to offer my art to the public and have been honored by their support over the last two decades.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
As a printmaker, I work primarily with reduction woodcuts; a process where a single woodblock is successively carved and printed to create complex and colorful relief prints. As the printing block is destroyed by the creative process, reduction printing is unique among printmaking forms as it results in a finite edition of works that cannot be reprinted. This is one of the qualities I love about the process. It takes commitment, planning, patience, and acceptance of its own inherent ending.
Thematically, I am most inspired by nature; that which I encounter in my gardens and on travels, as well as the natural mechanisms and cycles I have studied in scientific books and journals. I find the magic of life, death, decay, and regeneration of particular interest as vital themes central to the condition of being alive. From the intimate vibrancy of blooming ephemerals in spring and the fleshy vitality of a colony of mushrooms on a downed tree to the singular luminosity of the night sky and the humbling vastness of Lake Superior on a calm morning, I let nature led me to inspiration; my eyes and heart open to what she reveals every day.
I believe art not only tells us who we are, it dreams about who we could be. In this society so filled with tribalism, otherness and toxicity, art is and will be our way back to ourselves.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
How a person defines success is an utterly complex and personal perspective which changes over time and with the accumulation of life experiences. As such, this is a tough and rather ephemeral question. Any traditional monikers of success, be they external validation – such as awards or exhibitions, financial – such as sales or grants, or physical – such as studio space and equipment, are in my view, simply a means to accomplish the intangibles. At this point in my life and career, I want to be happy. I want to be able to continue to make my art and share it with others. I want my work to grow and evolve. I want to stay curious and inquisitive and to always find the magic in nature and the world around me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.emilygraykoehler.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/studioegk/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/studioegk
- Other: https://bsky.app/profile/emilygraykoehler.com
