Interview with artist Emma Estelle
Emma Estelle is a Little Rock painter and ceramic artist. She graduated from the University of Arkansas Little Rock in 2023 with a BA in painting and a minor in ceramics. During her time at UALR she became interested in formulating and creating oil paints and ceramic glazes using Arkansas rocks and minerals to celebrate the uniqueness and beauty of Arkansas. More of Emma’s work can be found at Red Door Gallery in North Little Rock and at her website emmaestelleartist.com.
AAS: Emma, are you a native Arkansan?
EE: I consider myself a native Arkansan since I’ve lived in Little Rock since I was five years old. I went to school at Pulaski Academy, and when I graduated, I was accepted into the Donaghey Scholars program at UA Little Rock. I spent five years there where I earned a BFA in Painting, a BA in Spanish, and a minor in Applied Design: Ceramics. In my last year, I studied abroad for a semester at Universidad Veritas in Costa Rica, where I finished up my BA in Spanish. After graduating, I stayed in the Little Rock area and started working out of the Innovation Hub and eventually became employed at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts. I currently sell my art in four storefronts in Central Arkansas and vend at as many art markets as I can.
AAS: Growing up, did you always think you would become a professional artist?
EE: Growing up, I didn’t consider my career very much. I was able to cultivate hobbies in art, music, language and literature but I never felt pressured to figure out what I was going to do until I went to college. I was fortunate enough to be accepted into the Donaghey Scholars program at UALR, which provided me with a full scholarship, room and board, a stipend, and opportunities to study abroad. Without fear of failure or debt, I was able to take classes I considered fun alongside my core classes during my first year like Painting Fundamentals, a seminar on the works by Toni Morrison, Spanish classes, and Wind Ensemble. It took me five years to graduate because I was interested in so many different things, but I knew from my first painting class that art would be the career I pursued. I felt at home in the studio.
I didn’t discover ceramics until my second year and by the time I became invested in it, it was too late to switch my major, so I decided to minor in it instead. But one of the wonderful things about art is that your skills are not solely determined by the classroom. I believe that it is the dedication to spending time in the studio practicing and researching and experimenting that makes an artist flourish. After graduating, I spent a whole year practicing pottery in a local makerspace and by then I felt confident enough in my skills to open my own business.
AAS: Was UALR where you learned how to create pigments?
EE: My interest in refining my own pigments came to me in an interesting way. I was working as a studio assistant for our ceramics department, so I would mix up our class clay using different dry ingredients (clay and minerals). I would also make our glazes as well, which involved mixing together glass-formers, clay, fluxes, and colorants. I came to have an intimate understanding of the materials we use in ceramics, and I felt I lacked that when it came to the oil paints I was using. I thought, “I can make my own clay and glazes so why can’t I make my own paints?” I applied to UALR’s Signature Experience Grant to get some funding for my research and when I was awarded the grant, I bought all the tools I needed to make my own paint. One of my painting professors had some experience with paint-making and she was able to give me some tips during my independent research.
I decided to refine my own pigments instead of buying pre-refined natural pigments to form an intimate connection with my materials. I wanted to be a part of the whole process, not just certain aspects. Once I started refining my own pigments with the local rocks and minerals available to me, I felt such a deep connection to the place that we Arkansans call our home that I decided I needed to specialize in refining local pigments and explore how this would affect my art.
“By using local rocks and minerals, harvested by my own hand or the hands of my fellow Arkansans, I make my work inherently connected to the land and its people.”
AAS: I love that you use pigments in your paintings and ceramics that are created using Arkansas minerals. The celebration of Arkansas and its resources in this way is awesome. How do you choose which rock or mineral to use?
Wild Pigments prepared from refined Arkansas rocks and minerals.
EE: I feel like in this age of mass production we forget the unique-ness that accompanies the handmade. The imperfections recount an intimate history of the object that machine-made, mass-produced items are stripped of. By using local rocks and minerals as my pigments, I am revolting against the “sameness” that is being marketed to us. Even when I use the same rock to make a paint or a glaze, the imperfections that form alongside the mineral during its formation can make subtle variations in its appearance and texture. This is why I refer to my pigments as “wild pigments”. To me, this description emphases that the pigments I use are not tamed or industrially refined or manufactured. I think it is the imperfections within the wild materials that I use that create a humanness that we are able to connect to instinctively. By using local rocks and minerals, harvested by my own hand or the hands of my fellow Arkansans, I make my work inherently connected to the land and its people. Before even starting a painting or throwing a pot, my art already has a history that is relevant to the people who walk on the same earth as I do. My goal as an artist is to showcase the native colors of our home and share this intimate connection to the earth.
Arkansas Bauxite
Arkansas Copper Ore
While making paints, I can just throw together a refined rock and linseed oil and I will pretty consistently get a usable paint. However, glaze making involves chemistry. Some rocks and minerals have silica and fluxes in them, which affect the texture of the glaze and its melting temperature respectively. When experimenting with copper ore, my glazes were super runny—they ran off the pots and onto the kiln shelves—because copper acts as a flux as well as a colorant. It made the glaze melt too much. Some rocks and minerals will release toxic fumes when fired, like manganese, which will contribute to the degradation of the kiln. Bauxite is mined for its aluminum content, but it also contains iron oxides, which is one of the most common colorants in ceramic glazes. I’ve noticed that the aluminum will sometimes form a metallic appearance on the glazes when fired. Understanding the science behind these materials allows me to use them in ways that make sense.
“My goal as an artist is to showcase the native colors of our home and share this intimate connection to the earth.”
AAS: Your painting, Brewing Storm, was painted with pigments you derived from refined rocks and minerals. Tell me about that painting and how you prepared your pigments.
Brewing Storm, 15”, oil on panel
EE: For me, paint making begins with finding a rock. I prefer making paint with inorganic material, as it provides the most stability as it is more light-fast (retains its color when exposed to the sun) than organic material. I typically choose a rock or mineral that has an interesting color and is relatively easy to break. I try to avoid rocks and minerals with high clay content because adding a liquid to clay just makes mud. Arkansas is full of iron-rich rocks and minerals and these pigments make such beautiful paints. The iron oxides in Bauxite make a beautiful deep red paint and is one of my favorite pigments to work with. I can find this rock in Bauxite, Arkansas where it is mined for its aluminum content. Once I have my sample, I will crush it by hand with a mortar and pestle into about one-inch chunks and then send it through my hand-held rock crusher. Once the rock is pulverized, I will sift the material through a 150-mesh sieve to achieve a fine powder. Now, my pigment is ready to be made into paint. I place the fine powder onto a glass plate and mix it with linseed oil using a palette knife and a muller. Linseed oil acts as a binding agent, trapping the pigment in itself to make an oil paint.
Brewing Storm is one of two paintings I made after a tornado destroyed the Little Rock area in 2023. Nature is powerful and dangerous and indiscriminate. The swirling of my paints felt like the swirling of the earth as the tumultuous sky wreaked havoc just down the street from my home. We are always at the mercy of our environment.
AAS: How do you turn these pigments into ceramic glazes?
Wild Pigment Glazes prepared using Arkansas rocks and minerals as colorants.
EE: A glaze consists of a glass-former, a flux, a stabilizer, and a colorant. Silica is the most common glass-former and is also known as quartz, but silica has a melting temperature that we are unable to achieve in our kilns. To lower its melting temperature, we introduce fluxes into the glaze and to stabilize the glaze. To make sure it doesn’t run off the pot we typically add clay. Colorants usually only account for less than five percent of the glaze.
It is possible to make a glaze using only local materials, but since I am only just beginning my experimentation of glazes, I decided to focus on using local materials just for the colorants. What I do is add my pigments to what would be a clear glaze, but the preparation isn’t as simple as making paint. In addition to refining the pigment, I will sometimes calcine fire (fire at a low temperature, around 1200°F) the pigment in a bowl to burn out any organic matter and any volatile material in the pigment. If I skip this process, I risk my glazes bubbling, blistering, pinholing, and even spitting in the final fire. During the final fire, I also program my kiln to fire at a slower rate than normal and for a longer time. This helps avoid imperfections that can occur due to the impurities in the pigments.
AAS: I love your collection of miniature vessels. They have a wonderful Ozark form, and the color tones are terrific.
EE: I began making miniature pots just to practice a few different techniques, but I fell in love with them. So far, I’ve made hundreds of miniatures, and I don’t plan on stopping. Their shape recalls the classical forms of ancient and native pottery, but their size makes you consider the pot differently. Pots are meant to be functional, but the size of my miniature vessels limits their functionality. Many people ask me, “what do you do with it?” and while there are many practical functions of a miniature pot, my main concern is to form a connection to the earth and share it. I believe that the vessel, a container, represents the deliberate collection of something with the purpose to use and share later. This theoretical collection parallels my deliberate collection of the raw pigments. But instead of water or grain, my vessels are filled with the intent to share the colors of the earth, of the rocks and minerals found just outside our homes that are often overlooked.
Wild Pigment Vessels, 3” x 3” x 3” each (approximately), stoneware glazed using Arkansas pigments
AAS: You’ve created a collection of flower vases that feature native flowers and a black glaze. They are dramatic and would really show off a colorful bouquet. Tell me about those vases.
Wild Pigment Flower Vase, 11” x 6” x 6”, stoneware glazed using Arkansas pigments
EE: When I first started working with wild pigments, my forms were simple as I wanted to emphasize the colors of the glaze, but at heart I’m a painter—a painter that draws what she sees. I needed to draw onto my work and the best way to compliment my wild pigments was to sculpt wildflowers. I draw the flowers onto the vase and then choose certain parts of the petals to sculpt, blending the 2D into the 3D. The black glaze comes from Arkansas copper ore, which when fired is transformed to black copper oxide.
AAS: Tell me about your studio and where we can find your work.
EE: After graduating from UA Little Rock, I received the artLAUNCH grant sponsored by the Windgate Foundation. This grant is giving me the funds I need to build my own studio at home. artLAUNCH is such a blessing to me because my experimental glazes are often not allowed to be fired in a communal kiln, where the risk of ruining the kiln shelves and others’ work is a possibility. Having access to your own tools and equipment is essential to any artist that is pushing the limits of their materials.
While construction is underway, I work out of the Innovation Hub in North Little Rock and the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts. Recently, I started working at AMFA as a studio assistant, where I fire kilns, make glazes, and maintain the ceramics studios. My work is currently being sold in the Little Rock area at Red Door Gallery, The Green Corner Store, South Main Creative, and Box Turtle. Look up my website to see my portfolio, read my blogs, and find which markets I’ll be at next. I hope that I can share the colors of Arkansas with you.
