Emma Hurley

I was born on the ridgetop above Point Arena. Growing up barefoot and tangle haired, I spent every possible moment exploring the wilds of beach, river and woods. Art projects were dragged outside and I used the natural world as my muse, a trend that continues today. 

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In 2014, bridging work as a fisheries biologist and an environmental educator, I created a line of ocean art apparel: NorthCoast Brine. My original pen and ink drawings are screen printed by a friend onto a carefully selected garment line. Inspired by the life and environment of the cold brine waters off of Northern California, my goal with the apparel is to encourage ocean stewardship and love for it’s species. My wearable art work puts an image to the declining kelp forest and to commonly eaten species that are beautiful amazing animals in their own right. BRINE \ˈbrīn\ water saturated or impregnated with salt; the water of the sea. My pad and pen studio is ever changing: the beach, the bluffs, the local wild river bank, or my rustic homestead in the pygmy forest.

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My inspiration from the riches of the wild earth extends to functional pottery. In 2015, I was employed to help a sculptural ceramicist glaze his large pieces. After months of glazing, I was given one quick lesson on a wheel and given access to the studio. There began my mostly self-taught road into pottery. I focus more on surface decoration than on other aspects of pottery. My wheel- thrown functional pieces are richly decorated with waves, fish and kelp, flowers and mountains. Before firing, I lovingly hand-carve the still damp surfaces of my pots, a process that can take hours and hours and makes each utterly unique. I have a small kiln I fire to 2200° F, which is known as mid-firing. This is the temperature where clay bodies will become vitrified (hardened) while still allowing bright colored glazes to not burn out.  I love seeing these functional pieces find new homes in kitchens and new meanings to those who touch and hold the same chunk clay after me in its new form! 

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Clay is malleable, with endless expressions possible especially through the last step: the type of heating one uses after making a piece. My newest passion in the clay studio is creating for wood-firing. I have now participated in three Anagama kiln firings. This is a labor intensive process that requires a team of 8-12 potters working together, from multiple long days of wood prep to two full days of loading the kiln, to sharing shifts to keep it burning. A massive kiln is continuously fed wood day and night in an eight-day firing. By the end of those eight days, the kiln is pushing the hottest you can fire clay bodies: cone 12-13, 2,420-2,455°F, which is just below the heat that will fully melt clay into a puddle. The natural ash from wood and highly dynamic environment of an Anagama kiln, transforms clay in amazing ways. I will have my work from these wood-firings at this year’s Studio Tour.