Stepping beyond university art

WHEN ushered into the space of an artist, you can see their inner workings.

That certainly holds true for Daylesford artist Emily Eliades, a graduate of The University of Melbourne’s Bachelor of Fine Arts who specialises in drawing and printmaking.

Her success has seen her become one of the few artists featured as part of the Young Talent Victoria initiative at the upcoming Affordable Art Fair held at the Royal Exhibition Building in early September.

“The director just messaged me on Instagram and I was so surprised,” she said.

Eliades sits in one of the plush and patterned armchairs in her family’s lounge room. It’s an ornate space where nothing is left blank full of stained-glass windows, upper-level book corner, and murals that are stunning.

The Affordable Art Fair is her first big gig and Eliades does feel a bit nervous about being featured in the upcoming event.

“It has been challenging working around the constraints of a heritage building. I want to compliment it, I don’t want to make it look bad, but I also want my style to shine through,” she said.

“It’s been a weird process. I was hoping to paint the walls, but we can’t do that. I wanted to use wallpaper, but I can’t do that either.”

Eliades finds the opportunity inspiring and works by creating a space she would want for herself. One that’s “beautiful and enjoyable to be in, and visually complex.

“It’s not important to me if specific concepts I had in mind come up in the minds of the audience.”

Blank white walls do not float her boat. She find them “too clinical” and that they have “no life in them.”

Sitting in her lounge room, dressed in a jumper with a monarch butterfly badge, long skirt, and a garden decorating her boots, Eliades said she wants colour and patterns in visual scapes. She primarily finds her inspiration through nature, places like her family garden, but also draws influence from Instagram artists, and pre-Raphaelite art.

The Exhibition Building installation will include some of Eliades’ specialty mediums; etchings, hand-paintings, as well as some furniture and wall paintings.

She lamented the care and delicacy of the etching process is almost more special than the final product.

To etch she must polish a copper plate, degrease it in an acid solution, then heat and apply a mix of wax and resin called ground. Once this dries, she etches into it so it leaves an impression on the copper. Then she removes the dried ground and inks the copper plate full of the intricate details. The reverse impression is left on the paper after machine-pressing.

The resulting line-art can be coloured in. Each copper plate produces one design for many impressions. But it takes time.

“These have taken me months,” She says shifting through pages of in-progress etchings.

“I do love it though. I even had to fashion a home-version of it where I heat up a frying pan on the gas stove and use that.”

Eliades is determined to bring her visions to life, and she lights up when explaining her passion.

That’s amongst working, completing a fellowship, and completing other art projects like fabrics for chairs.

Her emotional connection to her craft is something she lives with every day. She patted a chair, with fabric she created herself, as she said, “I don’t want to replicate ideas, otherwise it wouldn’t be art. What’s the point?”

What will she do after the Art Fair?

“I need to pick up more shifts at work,” she laughs.

It will be a busy time with final preparations, finally meeting her fellow artists, and interacting with new audiences when the exhibition opens.

Eliades’ passion for unique hand-crafted pieces is evident in her living spaces, and the effort she pours into each piece. One day, she’d love to be creating for a living. That’s the dream.

See her installation at the Affordable Art Fair, held at Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Building from September 5 – 8.