Emma Lyness grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska. They received their BFA at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the Spring of 2021. They currently live and work in Seattle, Washington.
Emma’s paintings combine lyrical mark-making with playful color relationships they observe in the natural world. Emma incorporates organic forms, watercolor washes, and mixed media on canvas primed with a traditional rabbit skin glue. Emma’s work is rooted in plein air landscape painting. Their smaller watercolor paintings on paper often serve as studies and references for their larger-scale color field paintings on canvas.