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9EMILY COPELAND:
CHARCOAL STILL LIFE DRAWINGS
When: March 7-April 6, 2019
Where: Bernarducci Gallery, 525 W. 25th Street, New York, NY 10001
Information: (212) 593-3757, http://www.bernarduccigallery.comAmong Copeland’s latest pieces is Antique
Telephone, which depicts a reflective gold
metal phone that Copeland found during
one of her shopping trips. “A vintage phone
was a long-standing fixture on my list, but
I struggled to find one that truly spoke to me,” she explains. “However, when I saw this phone at an antique store
just over two months ago, I knew I had found the perfect one to draw. I had never seen anything like it, and I knew
that this was going to be an exciting but challenging task. It was incredibly intricate, with vast amounts of detail,
remarkable shine and reflection throughout. The phone was a piece of art on its own.”
The ornate beauty of the phone attracted Copeland, as well as the stories that it might bring to mind to the
viewer, such as mass production and how telephones today often lack the aesthetics of their older counterparts
in favor of functionality. As well, the idea of changing communication methods are touched upon, with Copeland
explaining, “We have moved from giving someone our personal time by making a phone call to quick, impersonal
messaging by text. This vintage phone would have required you to spin each digit in a phone number and the
cord would have tied the person to one spot throughout the duration of the phone call. This art of communication
has been lost to time and innovation.”
Along with vintage objects, Copeland draws items that blend the old and new, such as the light that appears in
Vintage Lantern. A lantern had been on her list of items to draw, but many of them are rusted and falling apart.
Copeland found the company Relic Lighting in Vancouver, which takes old lanterns and puts bulbs in them,
breathing new life into otherwise forgotten items. This particular piece allowed Copeland the chance to challenge
herself in drawing an object with light, which is reminiscent of the Baroque artists she’s inspired by. “I really liked
how it turned out,” Copeland says. “I think it’s unique because it’s the old and new. It’s also another artist’s work
that I got to draw, which is always really neat.”
There are rare times when Copeland will have new items in her pieces. The sign in Route 66 Neon Sign was
made specifically for the drawing, and in Tessa Virtue’s Olympic Skates are the figure skater’s current pair of
ice skates that she is wearing as she tours through Canada. Virtue’s brother works for Copeland’s father, which
allowed the artist the chance to borrow the skates for the piece.
“I’ve always been a fan of hers, and she’s from my hometown where
following her and her Olympic career is something everyone did,”
says Copeland.
March 7 through April 6, Copeland will exhibit 14 drawings in
a solo exhibition at Bernarducci Gallery in New York City. Each
piece is a larger-than-life size, putting the beauty of everyday
subject matter on a grander scale.
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Buckaroo Bank, charcoal
on Stonehenge paper,
38 x 26½"5
Antique Boxing Gloves,
charcoal on Stonehenge
paper, 68½ x 42"6
Antique Hockey Gloves,
charcoal on Stonehenge
paper, 36½ x 30½"5
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