‘It’s a mess but it works!’

Emma Carter’s life is running on twin tracks at the moment. She is that rare commodity, an in demand artist who has invitations from galleries across the globe. And yet she’s more than happy holding down an art teacher's job in Colaiste Dun An Rí.

In the last year, Emma has been invited to, and exhibited in galleries in Venice, London, and Rome.

‘So New York next?’ the Celt jokes.

“There’s conversations being had at the minute,” she replies. Emma’s not joking. She’s in talks with the Big Apple’s Agora Gallery.

“I’m constantly getting emails and messages for invitations,” says Emma who lives in Virginia. We’re sitting in the Cavan County Museum, not too far from her Collinstown roots, where her latest exhibition has been running for the last few weeks. You sense that the abstract artist finds the whole situation all a bit surreal.

The Celt previously spoke to last July before she headed out to Venice to participate in one of the fringe events held in conjunction with the Biennale. Her meteoric rise can be measured in that her previous biggest show before that was a fundriaser in Mullingar for the paediatric ward.

“I thought it was a scam email at the time,” she says modestly of the Venice invitation. “I didn’t realise the importance of social media or Instagram at the time, and that’s how they found me. It just took off then.”

The Venice experience surpassed her expectations.

“Overwhelming to say the least. It was the first proper big show,” Emma recalls.

That sense of being overwhelmed was explained by being the only Irish person, the language barrier, and the realisation that given the calibre of people viisiting her exhibition, this was a huge opportunity.

“The most stressful thing about it was when they brought in the camera and there were six or seven really important gallerists and collectors behind the camera, and I was mic’d up, standing in front of my paintings and I had to speak about them. I honestly can speak in front of hundreds of kids a day, but at that moment it was - if I say the wrong thing that’s it, there’s no going back!”

A warm round of applause greeted her performance on-screen, and from that moment she could savour the experience of discussing her work in a “busy” gallery.

“When I came back it was back to reality, back to school.”

Or so she thought. No sooner was she helping pupils in her Kingscourt classroom when more invitations arrived. London gallery ‘The Line’, sought out Emma’s work for a group exhibition that September, while a gallery in Rome invited her for an exhibition in January.

Laughing at the memory she recalls, “I was in the middle of the classroom thinking do I say yes or no?”

It was a no brainer.

“Rome was different this time around because there were only three of us showing work - so I went from 40 down to three.”

The curator in Rome displayed her largest piece on a wall, alone in spotlights.

“You get emotional, because first of all they want your work, and you’re like: why? They’re just paintings that I do for fun, and they think these are amazing. So it’s nice to hear that, but then when you walk into the space it’s amazing.”

Another invitation emerged from Rome, but she had to draw a line under it.

“I need to focus on work,” says Emma. “It was uplifting to know that I got Galway and Cavan for the summer so I could work towards them.”

Emma had attended GMIT as an arts student so when she was offered a chance to exhibit, along with her former classmate Rachel Coyne in Oughterard, she couldnt say no to that. So this whirlwind of opportunity rocked up to the Eden Gallery in Cavan County Museum and the launch night was packed out.

Has she noticed a change in her work since this all took off?

“Big time. It’s seeing the work, it’s speaking with people, and then it’s the whole experience.”

“So you have the critics and you have the positive uplifters. When you hear the critics - it’s a catch 22 - you don’t want to hear the criticism but then when you hear it, you’re like - I needed to hear that to move forward. But then there’s a certain line where if they cross that, I’m not taking that on board. You have to have respect of the work as well, but yes I think there has been a change.”

The vast majority of the work in Eden have been painted in the last six months. The new work of which she is most proud is entitled ‘Life’s a Circus’. A large scale piece teals and blues dominate the space while splashes of orange pop out from the canvas.

“I think it’s more raw and it’s thick paint so I wasn’t thinking too much about it. And the different marks as well - they’re all a combination of marks I’ve been working on this summer. It’s a mess but it works,” she laughingly asserts. “But then, that’s life as well.”

For many it would be a bit of a circus act balancing full-time teaching with artistic ambitions, but Emma is content she has the balance just right.

“School is priority when I’m back, and I know some people disagree with that - ‘Why aren’t you just ging a freelance artist?’ But I’m a teacher for a reason.”

“I have this on the side, which is great, but I love my job. Until I’m in that mindset where I’m okay to leave the job, I’m happy teaching.

“But the invitations are still coming in - they’re not going to stop. They have me on their minds which is great, and they’ll keep at me until I say yes. But until I’m ready to say yes, I’ll be saying no."