Emma Sultmanis is an emerging artist whose paintings, prints, and drawings explore the relationship between humans and the environment. Her work addresses themes of environmental interconnectivity, ecological preservation, nature education, and systems of memory. As the natural world becomes infiltrated by digital technology and forests become increasingly fragmented by cities, fewer spaces and opportunities exist to support experiences in nature. Through her work, Emma confronts this reduction in appreciation and respect for the environment by seeking to rekindle a lost connection between the viewer and the natural world.
Working remotely from her hometown in Muskoka, Emma has been able to reconnect with the landscape that continues to provide rich inspiration for her work. Reflecting upon the value of her upbringing surrounded by nature, she is interested in how childhood exposure to nature can foster environmental care in adulthood. In her current series of drawings, Emma uses found artifacts, family photos, memories, and her own childhood drawings to unite her current and past perspectives on nature and the environment. Working in collaboration with her past self, she seeks to highlight the importance of outdoor experience in establishing lasting biophilia. Emma’s research-based process and detail-oriented mark-making reflect her backgrounds in biology, environmental science, botany, and the creative arts. Her work consistently references scientific journals, botanical illustrations, and the natural colours and scales of her objects of reference, but emphasis is placed on the enchanting details of nature. Through this practice, she strives to create work that is both informative and inspires reconnection with nature.
Emma is currently in her final semester of studies at the University of Guelph, and will begin teacher’s college in the spring, where her passion for engagement with nature will continue to influence her teaching and art-making practices.
Let them Learn Outside, 2021
Watercolour, pencil crayon, and hand-printed botanicals in printmaking ink
16″x 12″
Papilio Glaucus (2005, 2021) & Leucanthemum vulgare (2004, 2021), 2021
Diptych
Pen and pencil crayon on paper
22″x 14″
The Importance of Nature, (2002 – 2008, 2021), 2021
Pen and pencil crayon on paper
26″x 20″
Drawing IV Final Exhibition 