Old Clayesmorian Society

Emma always scared me a little; she was one of those sixth formers who really knew where they were going and how they were going to get there. She didn’t suffer fools.

Normally of course, she was totally charming, with a mischievous persuading smile that belied the serious intention of her question. But woe betide those with muddled thoughts, or casual replies! In her painting, she developed the same ambiguity. There is a multi- layered quality about her work that hinted at something else going on underneath the surface; a kind of surface glamour that belied the shocking content of her images. Her technique, a blend of oil paint, ink, acrylic, montage and collage, took a number of years to develop, but we could see the ability in year 10. However it was not until really quite late in the 6th form that Emma discovered ambition, and soon her work took on that miraculous, mushrooming, magical abilty to develop and change almost overnight. The secret of course was that she was coming to all her study lessons, working late, and working her socks off on ideas that had gripped her imagination, challenged her intellect, and demanded a gear change in terms of technique.

“...the delicate and dangerous paintings of Emma Gibson- Snow White lost in the forest. Here, there is a sense of decay and a faded irony; all is not what it seems. Look carefully! This is a stunningly subtle piece of work by one so young. Well done Emma! The silent, malevolent drama is built with colour, texture and the agglomeration of contradictory images oh so delicately layered. But this in turn is burst asunder by the adjacent thunderbolt of a painting appropriately entitled,THE END. The mushroom cloud still drifts dreamily round you as you leave the exhibition.” The Clayesmorian 2009

Well done indeed Emma. A worthy winner of the 2009 Scadding prize!

Emma Gibson is currently embarked on a Foundation course at Wimbledon College of Art

Alan Peters