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Emma Ferrer

Profession
MA Fine Art: Digital student
College
Central Saint Martins
Person Type
Student
Emma Ferrer

Biography

Emma Kathleen Hepburn Ferrer is from Morges, Switzerland and is currently a student MA Fine Art: Digital at Central Saint Martins.

Interview

Please can you tell me a little bit about yourself ?

After graduating from a four year classical painting and drawing academy in Florence, Italy, I moved to New York where I would live and work in art and art-adjacent industries for almost six years. Two and a half years ago I made the decision to move back to Italy, to a small village about an hour and a half from my hometown Florence where I would live every summer since I was little. It was during this time I made the decision to commence studies at Central Saint Martins remotely.

Why did you choose to study MA Fine Art: Digital at Central Saint Martins (CSM)?

I studied painting, drawing, and sculpture in a very classical academy in Florence. This gave me an incredible base of how to see, how to draw and paint, and knowledge about materials and the process of painting. However, after graduating that course, I still didn't know how to translate this knowledge into a conceptual development within my painting practice. I have since been rigorously experimenting with many styles, continuing to paint and make art, yet not understanding how to grow theoretically and find a true conceptual burgeoning in my work.

What’s the most interesting project you’ve worked on so far? What made it so interesting to work on?

I would have to choose a painting I did of an altar in a Medieval church in the village I live in. I have focused on completing a number of more conceptual, narratively developed works since commencing my MA, however this one simple painting has placed me within a historical context that I couldn't have even imagined before beginning my studies. What started as a simple painting from life done at night inside a tiny church in my village became a spiritual and metaphysical study of community and communities - my own community, as well as the communities that have inhabited the place I live in for centuries and centuries.

Realising the conceptual strength and context of this experience, and being able to transcribe it into a small exhibition text and write about the experience at length on my blog has taught me immensely, and has shown me just how much this course has to offer in helping us grow and develop these skills - not just in making our work, but learning how we make it, how to reflect on it, and most importantly, how to think about it - from the conception, throughout the process, to after the work - which is an ongoing, eternal cycle.

What projects/successes have you been involved with since starting the course? 

I have participated in the MA Interim Show which took place during our course's low-residency, a two week period out of the year in which, if we are able, we can travel to London and participate in our course in-person. I also participated in a group pop-up show with some other artists on my course, from my own year, as well as past years. This was the first time I exhibited my work in a non-academic environment.

I have also completed a number of commissions, I have curated an exhibition for an emerging Italian artist at a top gallery in New York City, as well as work shown in a church-exhibition in Philadelphia. Most importantly, I have really focused on growing my studio practice - something I am constantly perfecting and re-imagining. Having this diligence and consistency for a protracted time like this has been the most rewarding and fulfilling feeling.

What important piece of advice would you give to students thinking of studying this course?

Do this course for yourself, not for the credit or accolades it will give you. Every person I have witnessed obtaining 'success' in this course, measured by the feelings of self-fulfillment, knowledge, and learning that are its consequence, are in this course for their own development and an insatiable hunger to grow as artists. The prestige it brings is a happy, secondary consequence that just so happens to come along. I think when I started this course, I was in it 75% for my own development, and 25% for the credits. I now see it as an absolutely indispensable process needed for reaching my goals and becoming the best artist I can be.

What has been the highlight of your CSM experience so far?

I would have to say being under the tutelage of Jonathan Kearney, our course leader. I have seldom come in contact with such a knowledgeable, caring, and transformative human being.

What are your career aspirations? Where would you like to be in five years' time?

I would like to be a career artist who sustains myself off of my artwork. In five years' time I hope to be still living where I am, with the support of an amazing gallerist who believes in my artwork, and to have developed and grown immensely in my painting and art practice.

What is the most important thing you've learnt on the course so far?

When you get comfortable, try something different. Discomfort is a good thing. Even when you don't see an end in sight, or you don't see where you're going or how you're getting there, these are some of the most important, pivotal moments in our growth. Continuing on when we don't really understand what we're doing is a reality that we will face as artists, I believe to a certain degree, always. That said, an incredible amount of clarity comes as time goes on, and we get more distance from our work and past. Continuing to carry on is the most important thing, I believe.

Links

Follow Emma on Instagram
Check Emma’s Website
View the MA Fine Art: Digital course page

Central Saint Martins

Contact

Telephone

+44 (0)20 7514 7444

Address

1 Granary Square
King's Cross
London
N1C 4AA