Emma Todd

Statement

My art practice is sculptural: a combination of space-making and object-creation marked by interdisciplinary overlaps. I follow circularities of methods through experimental material play. Stemming from my transdisciplinary philosophies on phenomenology, I orient my pieces around the embodied, interactive, and affective qualities they facilitate for viewers, integrating sensorial immersion and subjective experience as subject matter. Through a refusal of precision in material application, I incorporate the authenticity of materials and artistic labor, straying from representational legibility.

GlogauAIR Project

For my project, I envision creating a series of sculptural, environmental installations that are human-sized and enterable. Through qualities of spatial-sensorial immersion, I will encourage embodied, affective, and tactile viewer experiences. The first pieces I’ve completed in this body of work are my stepping stone to exploring how new themes and materials can produce diverse subjective experiences and sensations for viewers. Through these installations, I aim to investigate the capacities of a phenomenologically oriented approach to artmaking and sensorial interactivity in art viewership.

CV Summary

EDUCATION

• 2020-2024. BA with Distinction in Studio Art (Concentration in Sculpture), BA in Cognitive Science (Concentration in Psychology), Minor in Design. University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

FELLOWSHIPS AND RESIDENCIES

• 2024-2025. Aunspaugh Post-Baccalaureate Fellowship, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
• 2022. ArtLab Student Artist in Residence at Mountain Lake Biological Station, Pembroke, VA, USA
• 2019. Virginia Summer Residential Governor’s School for Visual Art, Radford, VA, USA

EXHIBITIONS

• 2024. Home, Ruffin Gallery, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
• 2024. Wanna Play Heap & Seep?, Two-Person Thesis Exhibition, Ruffin Gallery, Charlottesville, VA, USA
• 2024. On a Scale, McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville, VA, USA
• 2023. We Are Resilient Together, J & G Innes LTD Booksellers, St Andrews, Scotland
• 2023. Hearts: A UVA Exhibition, McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville, VA, USA
• 2022. A Summer at Mountain Lake Biological Station, Ruffin Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
• 2022. 1515 Art Show: Revelations, 1515, Charlottesville, VA, USA
• 2019. Steel Pier Classic & Surf Art Expo, Virginia Beach Oceanfront, Virginia Beach, VA, USA
• 2019. Hampton Roads Student Gallery, Chesapeake Central Library, Chesapeake, VA, USA

EXPERIENCE

• 2024. Studio Assistant to Conrad Cheung, Charlottesville, VA, USA
• 2023. Teaching Artist, Ix Art Park, Charlottesville, VA, USA
• 2022. Creative Director, Scratch Zine, Charlottesville, VA, USA
• 2021-22. Graphic Designer and Illustrator, Empathable, Charlottesville, VA, USA
• 2022. Write Climate: Art and Engagement Course Assistant, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
• 2022. Arts Mentor, Madison House at University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
• 2017-18. Art Camp Teaching Assistant, Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Virginia Beach, VA, USA

Gallery