Emily Thomas MaHarry
2025/26
1-Month Studio RESIDENT
Painter and Printmaker from Ojai
Portrait by Mikael Jorgensen, Graphics by Louise Sandhaus
The landscape paintings of Emily Thomas Maharry are translations of emotion and liminal space into imagery. Her abstract works have a kind of magic, giving the viewer a strange sense of familiarity, as if they had once stood in a painted scene with her.
As a runner, her engagement with the land and mountains is both physical and meditative, a discipline of awareness. Through her body's movement, in a heightened state, like runner's high, she finds a deep level of seeing and listening, a process that allows her to tap into the subtle shifts in her surroundings.
Emily starts her canvases with a red underpainting, providing a resonant warmth that unifies the composition. She then adds color and gesture on top, depicting land and light, as well as loss and love. Just as a memory is built over time, her paintings are composed of integrated layers. Some colors remain vivid on the surface, while others are buried beneath, acting as a structural mood that anchors each piece. The result is an abstract landscape that does not merely depict a site, but evokes the feeling of having inhabited it, giving the viewer a scene of familiarity. These works serve as a visual notation of Emily’s relationship to nature, and an intimate interpretation of how a place feels to the spirit.
Protea Studio. Photo by Mikael Jorgensen
Artist Statement:
“As a runner, I spend a lot of time in the mountains and forests, where I reset my nervous system and focus on the flashes of color that shape the landscape around me. On trail runs I often bring a sketchbook, using the drawings as points of departure for later paintings.
I’m drawn to the composition of landscapes- the negative space between trees, clusters of flora and fauna, and shadows cast by the crests of the day. Running and painting are parallel acts of exploration and observation.
Photo by Mikael Jorgensen
Work in progress.
When I start a painting, I build up layers of color. This accumulation reflects how I process emotion - some colors are buried, others remain visible, but the layers are always present, and thoughts become visual.
As I work, these layers eventually depict the shifting boundary between space and place, moving from a dreamstate toward consciousness.“Space” is unfamiliar, something to explore, while “place” is groundedness and connection.
Already Gold, 2026
Running mountain trails, exploring the wilderness: these are spaces that, over time, become familiar.
As I establish a connection to the land, it becomes “place,” transforming a geographical location into a meaningful environment marked by an emotional bond. My paintings reflect the value and resonance of that transition.”
Photo by Mikael Jorgensen
