Emily Ketteringham spent her one-month residence hosted by Unison Colour, the renowned makers of handmade artists’ pastels in Thorneyburn, Tarset, as part of ENTWINED: Rural. Land. Lives. Art. Originally scheduled for 2020, her residency was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. During the intervening year, Emily developed her ideas through a series of Colour Walking research projects near her home in Bristol, documented in an ongoing blog exploring how colour defines place and experience.
Emily’s artistic practice centres on the colour of place, an exploration of the hues and tones that shape our understanding of landscape. Her work combines an observational approach with experimental printmaking processes, investigating how geology, weather, and human presence influence the palette of a specific environment. Often drawing inspiration from geological maps and rock formations, she works with translucent layers of ink to evoke the depth and complexity of natural surfaces. Pebbles, strata, and mineral traces feature frequently in her imagery, each suggesting a record of time and transformation.
During her ENTWINED residency, Emily focused on the microscopic details of the surrounding landscape rather than sweeping vistas: the circular pits of disused mines, lichen patterns on stone, the shifting colours of grass and soil. These observations became the foundation for a series of experimental screenprints, for which she created unique inks by grinding and mixing Unison pastels. This hands-on process embodied the intimate connection between the material of colour and the landscape from which it is drawn.
Collaboration was an important element of Emily’s time at Unison Colour. Working closely with the makers, she developed striped pastels inspired by the local terrain, translating the subtle gradations of Northumberland’s moorlands and rock faces into tactile pigment form. The collaboration reflected both Emily’s and Unison’s shared commitment to craftsmanship, material exploration, and sensitivity to place.
Emily holds degrees in 3D Design and Multidisciplinary Print, as well as a Master’s in Design, and previously worked as an art teacher before dedicating herself full-time to printmaking. Based in Bristol, she has exhibited widely and undertaken numerous commissions and projects. Her residency deepened her ongoing investigation into how colour reveals the identity of a landscape, an enquiry that connects the tactile, geological, and emotional layers of place through the language of print and pigment.
