Emily Pettigrew

Emily Pettigrew is a representational painter, whose work is distinguished by a sparseness, subtlety, and timelessness, and emanates a quiet reverence for both history and nature. The aesthetics of Pettigrew’s narrative acrylic paintings, which often depict single figures and landscapes, were defined by formative years in Maine and refined by study in the New York art scene. Pettigrew explains: “My love for the starkness of the landscape of my childhood is reflected in a “spartanism” in my work. My foundational principle of painting, is the removal of excess parts—a paring down to an image’s most beautiful elements.”

Pettigrew grew up in coastal Blue Hill, Maine. She received her BFA at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn New York, and currently resides in the Catskill Mountains after an 11-year stint in New York City.