Emily Spooner is a visual artist based between Sackville, New Brunswick, and Montréal, Québec. She holds a BFA in Painting and Drawing from Concordia University (2020) and has since participated in residencies across Canada and internationally. Her work has been presented in group exhibitions throughout Montréal, including the second edition of Artch. Upcoming projects include group exhibitions at Vaste et Vague (Carleton-sur-Mer, QC) and Centre SAGAMIE (Alma, QC), as well as solo exhibitions at ZALUCKY (Toronto, ON) and Blouin Division’s Project Space (Montréal, QC). She also maintains a collaborative video practice with artist Jeff Mann focused on puppetry and experimental film.
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I am primarily a painter whose work explores memory, storytelling, and the intuitive emergence of imagery. My paintings often develop through a process of image association, allowing symbols to surface and recur over time rather than assigning them fixed meanings. I am interested in how memories fragment, shift, and fade, and my compositions often move through dreamlike spaces where narrative unfolds indirectly through atmosphere and symbolic relationships between forms.
My visual language is informed by the carnivalesque and the whimsical, qualities that evoke curiosity, wonder, and moments of quiet strangeness. These elements create a space where playfulness and melancholy coexist, reflecting the fluid nature of recollection and imagination.
While painting remains central to my practice, I have recently begun exploring ways of extending this visual language into more immersive environments. Inspired by scenography and theatrical space, upcoming projects experiment with installations that create settings for my imagery to unfold beyond the canvas, opening possibilities for performance and shared encounters with audiences.
