About Me

Emma Cooley is a Colorado based metalsmith and recent graduate of Fort Lewis College. She grew up rafting the red sandstone canyons of the Colorado River and hiking through high deserts, which is where she draws much of her inspirations. She received her B.S. of biology while minoring in studio arts. Emma’s path to finding her home as an artist has been atypical. Majoring in STEM, she found science and math mentally stimulating, but her soul belonged to the art she created.  It was when she began to focus more on botany that she discovered inspiration from plants and other natural systems. Emma focuses on the contradictions of the natural world, attempting to capture its harshness while still expressing something soft and delicate. She articulates this aesthetic in botanical illustration and printmaking in addition to metalsmithing. In an effort to encourage others to explore their own relationship to art and the natural world, she taught silversmithing and jewelry classes at the local gem and mineral club in Durango, Colorado. She is hoping to pursue a career in metalsmithing and further her studies at the graduate level.