In today’s Griffin State of Mind interview, Emily T. Rice speaks to Vicente Cayuela about art as a medium for dialogue, empathy, and a catalyst for change in the discourse surrounding mental health.
On view at the Griffin Museum’s Lafayette City Center gallery on Rendering Experiences from October 2, 2023 through January 7, 2024, Emily Taylor Rice’s mixed-media works exquisitely communicate the complexity, resilience, and strength intrinsic to the journey of overcoming significant challenges.
Courageously combating the pervasive stigma surrounding mental health, the interdisciplinary artist and printmaker does not shy away from sharing her own struggles with recovery and addiction.‘ There is beauty in damage,’ the artist declares, as she draws parallels between the imprints left by embossing and printing processes and the indelible marks of emotional upheavals she has experienced as a woman in long-term alcoholism recovery.
Utilizing a range of mediums, including photography, monotypes, collagraphs, silkscreen prints, and installations, the Boston University graduate student adeptly transforms commonplace elements into layered visual metaphors.
In Standing smack in the middle of the truth about myself (2023), a silkscreen print with the title written twice in orange ink over found fabric, the artist compels us to confront the unadulterated reality of our own character, circumstances, and choices. Highlighting a vital step in the recovery process — wherein individuals confront and acknowledge the unvarnished aspects of themselves in a moment devoid of evasion or denial — the artwork stands out for its honesty, humor, and brutality.
While Rice’s preference for heart-on-her-sleeve titles, such as “Awareness of Choices,” “Walking Through Fear,” and “The Gift of Desperation,” the artworks themselves subtly unfold, allowing for a multitude of interpretations that are as varied as the unique challenges we all face throughout our lifetimes.
Emily Taylor Rice is an artist and an educator with a BS and MA in Art Education. She is a 2024 MFA candidate in Print Media + Photography at Boston University College of Fine Arts. Her teaching experience includes K-12 art education both nationally and internationally. Rice has exhibited her work at Boston University, VanDernoot Gallery, Roberts Gallery, and others. Rice has curated exhibitions in Boston, MA, and juried art competitions such as the YCIS Puxi Community Photography Competition in Shanghai, China. Her artist residencies include Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, CO, and the Frans Masereel Center in Kasterlee, Belgium. Rice has garnered a variety of awards and honors for her scholarship and is a United States National Art Award Winner.
Vicente Cayuela: Can you share some insights about your background and artistic journey?
Emily T. Rice: My background lies in the field of art education and I received my Bachelor of Science in Art Education in 2005 from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. I taught Visual Arts in the K-12 system for 17 years, 12 of them in Asia and the Middle East. These international experiences have afforded me a unique perspective on the value of art education on a global scale. While teaching full-time in China, I completed a Master of Arts in Art Education through Boston University.
Art has always been a constant in my life and it is most certainly a part of my identity. Through my arts-based research during my MA program, my passion for personal artistry was rekindled and I experienced a new realm of inspiration. I chose to return to the United States in pursuit of a Master of Fine Arts degree. I was eager to continue my education through Boston University’s College of Fine Arts and I am currently a 2024 candidate in the Print Media and Photography MFA program. I have rediscovered and am embracing the significance of connecting with myself and exploring my identity through my art. It is a means for me to find my creative voice and connect with others in the field. I treasure my art education background and I value my MFA journey as they are both leading me in a positive direction with my art practice. I have been very active in showing my work and attending artist residencies.
VC: What sparked your passion for the creative mediums you specialize in?
ER: I consider myself a multi-media artist and have been impressed by the interdisciplinary nature of the Print Media and Photography program at Boston University. I use my photographs as inspiration for my work and also combine them with printmaking processes to create monotype prints, collagraphs, silkscreen prints, cyanotypes, digital images, and installations.
VC: Could you describe your journey leading up to, during, and after your thesis exhibition?
ER: My journey in the MFA program began with my artistic response to having lived through the 2022 Shanghai Lockdown that was put in place as a result of China’s “Zero COVID” Policy during the COVID-19 pandemic. The individual yet shared experience took a toll emotionally, mentally, and physically on all who experienced it, myself included. The aim of my work at that time was to document the trauma of such oppression and I invited the viewer to consider the powerlessness under the weight and pressure of such adverse conditions.
This body of work led to my continued focus on mental health. I consider and address the feelings related to the loss of control in the face of turmoil. My personal experiences are a staple in my work and their inclusion has led me to an overarching conceptual theme of identity. As a woman in long-term recovery from alcoholism, the complicated narratives and often serious realities surrounding mental health and substance use disorders are what lie at the heart of my work. There is beauty in damage, so I create visual metaphors that illustrate emotional complexity, struggle, growth, and strength. The processes of embossing and printing leave behind evidence, much like emotional upheavals leave scars that cannot be erased. In my prints, pigments can act as a collision on the paper but they can also delicately caress the paper’s surface, emulating feelings of both desperation and relief. I incorporate movement, texture, and layers to create visual tension and entanglement. As I focus on my lived experiences, I reflect on my navigation of the emotional geography that surrounds them.
Recently, I have been repurposing found and discarded fabric. I associate the fabrics’ pre-existing shapes with the fact that recovery is not always a pretty or clean-cut process. Displaying and embracing the raw edges of the fabric relates to the idea that recovery and healing are also never finished; it is not always smooth but it can be beautiful. I manipulate the textured surfaces of the fabrics through silkscreen and embroidery. Layering and sometimes sewing pieces together allows me to create large installations. Additionally, as my thesis work develops, I have begun exploring my Pennsylvania Dutch and Scottish/Welsh heritage as well as elements of spirituality. In linking these different aspects of my identity together, I also explore the concept of time through repetition and pattern.
VC: Have you formed a deeper connection with any of your works compared to others? If so, what is the reason behind this particular attachment?
ER: Yes, I have found a deep connection with my pieces that focus on transformational periods of my life. Examples of this include, “Something must give” (Monotype, 2023), “The gift of desperation, II” (Monotype, 2023), and “Standing smack in the middle of the truth about myself” (Silkscreen on found fabric, 2023).
My works in this area emphasize the idea that empowerment can be gained through facing our fears and that positive action can aid in the ascension of an uphill climb. When we choose to acknowledge our areas of struggle, we gain the courage to ask for help. Having the desire, willingness, and strength to make a change in the face of turmoil and pain can enable growth.
VC: Do you set specific objectives when you start a new artwork, or do you prefer a more open-ended approach?
ER: In previous years, I began creating my works with specific objectives and goals for outcomes. However, I began to feel that this method was too rigid and somewhat stifling. In recent years, I have taken a much more open-ended approach to my work because the actual process of creating is an important part of my artistic journey.
I begin with a general goal based on my concept and choose mediums, image inspirations, and colors, but I feel as though I give the materials their own voice. I believe my approach is likely an echo of learning flexibility through my life experiences. For example, using solvents in my monotypes allows me to embrace the element of chance. When mixing solvents with printing ink, the materials take on a life of their own. Although there is control over where I place these materials on the printing plate, I give them room to speak for themselves. My photographs and prints not only record experiences but, through iteration, exemplify further possibilities for artistic engagement.
VC: When creating art, what emotions or messages do you aim to convey to your audience?
ER: Great emphasis is placed on the necessity of discussing and promoting mental health, as it underscores larger societal concerns. The inclusion of text in my work is meant to pull viewers into a topic that is uncomfortable. How can we change our way of thinking and seeing? It is my goal to use printmaking as an artistic means of communication and as a form of activism. Printmaking has historically been used as a form of advocacy, and the application of physical pressure in my work creates a sense of tension. My work is situated around the fact that mental health disorders do not discriminate. I strive to provoke a thoughtful response and foster empathy and understanding. I feel the need to emphasize the force and oppression of these disorders while acknowledging the relief and release that can be found through acceptance and the choice of recovery. I hope that my work might be impactful in reducing the stigma surrounding these topics as they become a part of a larger discussion.
VC: What fuels your ongoing motivation and drive to continue making art?
ER: I am continually interested in the overlap between art and science. Through researching the psychological and neurological aspects of mental health and substance use disorders, I aim to push the boundaries of my art-making. For example, as a result of my investigation into the effects of alcohol on the brain, I have begun to include brain images and scans in my work. I believe connecting scientific and arts-based research will provide an impactful opportunity to foster empathy and understanding about these chronic disorders.
VC: Who or what are the primary sources of inspiration that influence your work?
ER: My lived experiences are certainly a primary source of inspiration. Additionally, I am inspired by the courageous and exploratory processes of female artists Elaine de Kooning, Frida Kahlo, and Nan Goldin. I often refer to Elaine de Kooning’s gestural and abstract marks for inspiration in my monotypes. Conceptually, I am particularly drawn to how Kahlo and Goldin express the raw nature of their lived experiences while presenting them as part of their identity. Each of these women has been influential in my practice. Goldin’s work especially is inspirational to me due to her advocacy work in the realm of substance use disorders and recovery.
Vicente Cayuela is a Chilean multimedia artist working primarily in research-based, staged photographic projects. Inspired by oral history, the aesthetics of picture riddle books, and political propaganda, his complex still lifes and tableaux arrangements seek to familiarize young audiences with his country’s history of political violence. His 2022 debut series “JUVENILIA” earned him an Emerging Artist Award in Visual Arts from the Saint Botolph Club Foundation, a Lenscratch Student Prize, an Atlanta Celebrates Photography Equity Scholarship, and a photography jurying position at the 2023 Alliance for Young Artists & Writers’ Scholastic Art and Writing Awards in the Massachusetts region. His work has been exhibited most notably at the Griffin Museum of Photography, Abigail Ogilvy Gallery, PhotoPlace Gallery, and published nationally and internationally in print and digital publications. A cultural worker, he has interviewed renowned artists and curators and directed several multimedia projects across various museum platforms and art publications. He is currently a content editor at Lenscratch Photography Daily and Lead Content Creator at the Griffin Museum of Photography. He holds a BA in Studio Art from Brandeis University, where he received a Deborah Josepha Cohen Memorial Award in Fine Arts and a Susan Mae Green Award for Creativity in Photography.
