Emily Teall

Emily Teall (BFA visual arts, Cornell University '16; MA human rights studies, Columbia University '18) is a Connecticut-based multimedia artist with particular interests in sculpture and installation. Curiosity about and connection to nature drive her art. She navigates the themes of anxiety and memory through her artistic practice, drawing inspiration from ecological, anatomical, and biological references and processes. She uses her art to express and practice introspection as a tool for growth. Many of her artworks focus on this slow-growth concept, referencing gestational and hibernation periods. Her art consistently draws on natural imagery of bulbs, seeds, cocoons, and wombs to evoke a gestation period in which the viewer grows through introspection before re-emerging into the community. She creates personal “environments” to encourage viewers to meditate on anxieties and memories. Her interest in pushing the immersive and experiential qualities of art leads her to work primarily in sculpture and installation. Symbols from nature, especially bulbs and seeds, comprise her visual language.

Emily recently completed an inaugural residency at the Norwalk Art Space, where she set up her studio practice, taught courses, assisted in arranging events, and co-curated and installed her own and others’ shows. Her interactive steel sculpture, Tulip Bulb, is on display at the Norwalk Art Space sculpture garden. In addition to building a personal artistic practice, she teaches a broad variety of visual art and design courses to 5th-12th grades at Fusion Academy’s Greenwich campus. She has also taught courses and currently takes metalworking classes at the Silvermine Arts Center, where she creates large, interactive metal sculptures. She is especially passionate about combining human rights with the arts and with art education; her Master’s thesis, titled Realizing the Right to Education for NYC’s Homeless Children: Identifying and removing barriers, focused on education of homeless youth.

She is excited and honored to take part in the inaugural year of Ice Cream Social, and looks forward to expanding her practice in Port Chester’s community.