“Artwork has got to speak to you; it has to make you feel something,” says artist Emma Gale

In the early 90s, while still just a teenager, Emma Gale spent 2 years in Cairo teaching refugees how to screenprint their designs onto fabric to be sold. It sparked a love of art and colour which has never gone away.

Returning to Melbourne, she quickly started to make her mark on the advertising and graphic design industries despite having no formal training, while gradually beginning to paint on the side. “I always dreamed of being an artist,” says now well established Emma, who recently exhibited at one of our favourite stores,  fenton&fenton. “I just wanted to draw and play with colour. My style combines drawing, colour, pattern and texture.”

The successful artist and self-proclaimed homebody has filled the space where she lives and works with colourful pieces sourced all over the world, drawing great inspiration from global culture, and particularly ethnic and tribal jewellery.

Once her children are at school and pre-school, she begins her creative journey through the working day. She rarely stops until they come home again. “I never need to be motivated to create. I am a very dedicated and driven person. I can’t wait to get to work every day. I love colour and my home is filled with colorful wares that inspire me.”

Emma believes art plays an important role in designing interiors. “The perfect piece in the right spot can make a room. Artwork has got to speak to you; it has to make you feel something. You need to love it.”

She adds: “Sometimes you can buy a piece of artwork and then gather wares and colour that will go with it. The worst thing to do is to create too much around the piece. It needs to breathe and it needs its own space to shine. Sometimes less really is more.”

Emma’s next planned exhibition is at Anthea Polson Art on the Gold Coast in December. 

Read more about Emma and her work. Photos taken at, and courtesy of, fenton&fenton.