You all know I love a good papercut. Emma Van Leest makes spectacular ones. Highly detailed images are carved and layered to create beautiful vignettes. Her most recent works are based variously on the histories of Australia, of the search for Arcadia, and of the vacuums left by adventurers to new worlds.
Emma works by first researching an idea and creating a montage to express that. Next, it is drawn out onto a piece of paper in reverse using a lightbox. Then the cutting begins. A single piece can take many blades and months of work, which is not surprising when you consider its intricacy and that the size of the works can be up to almost a metre high.
emma van leest – As long as tomorrow – 2010
Emma has not always been a papercutter, and indeed she told me that she has been (and still is) a legal secretary for longer than she has been an artist. “My practice really began in late 2003 – I was making terrible paintings, as well as these little paper cuttings which I had been doing since uni. I had always considered them a sideline to my oil paintings but they were more interesting to me so I ended up focusing on them, and they evolved until they became the papercuttings that I do today.”
She loves where they are based in Brunswick (Melbourne), but recently becoming a first time mother (congrats!), means that Emma’s current workspace is the kitchen table, as the baby has taken over most of the studio room!
emma van leest – beginning always -2010
emma van leest – disunify – 2010
Although art was not big in their lives, Emma said that growing up with a mother who is passionate about textiles and a great seamstress, and a grandmother who is a wonderful knitter made her appreciate patience, persistence and the love of craft. She said, “My mother showed me how to sew very early on and encouraged reading and creativity, so I played very elaborate imaginative games and drew a lot. I had obsessions with particular little things; a Victorian era fashion plate I had, books like A necklace of raindrops, and the family nativity scene.”
Other influences include the work of Joseph Cornell and Vermeer (not only for the patience required to do his work, but also for the way he balanced his art practice with other aspects of his life). Other paper cutting artists include Laura Cooperman and Mia Pearlman. “One of the biggest influences on my work would have to be my draconian high school art teacher who managed to squeeze any drop of enjoyment out of art classes for many students over the years, but did manage to instil a respect for materials and processes in me, and an ability to be painstaking (he may not realise that based on my high school art efforts).”
emma van leest – murderers bay – 2011
Although she had been exhibiting for several years, there was one particularly stressful experience, when she was creating Wintergarden in 2007. “I was very naive and inexperienced, and didn’t manage the budget or timeline properly at all. Basically I didn’t know what I was doing. It was incredibly stressful and I had to drop everything to have it all done and even then it was late.” Emma said that money is often a problem in creating artworks, as it can limit what you do, and this can be demoralising. “Being persistent and seeing benefits can be hard sometimes.”
Despite these setbacks, Emma has also had some BIG highlights. “As a designer, I would say that designing a snowboard for Burton was an unexpectedly early and exciting success. But being on ABC TV’s Art Nation program was amazing. I still really can’t believe that it happened and it introduced my work to a whole new audience.”
emma van leest – theodora – 2011
Despite the big lifestyle changes happening for Emma at the moment, I can there are still great things to come, and I am looking forward to seeing how they impact on the subject matter and style of Emma’s future work.
You can find more of her work on her website, www.emmavanleest.com.
With thanks to Emma for sharing her words and images here.
wow – these are incredible! So beautiful…. I feel quite humbled after looking at these.