Em Meine, an Oakland-based artist who works in art & design higher ed Artists in Offices

Em Meine makes drawings, paintings, and sculptures as a means of exploring collective memory, storytelling, natural history, and anthropomorphism. The works are often figurative representations of imaginary objects or landscapes. She considers her artistic practice to be a ritual for contemplation and self-care, which enables her to experience a sense of connectivity and communion with everything beyond her self. Em’s process is meditative, allowing her to disengage from the external world, and to instead explore an internal universe.
More recently, Em has been making drawings that articulate vulnerable ideas based on her own experiences with anxiety or grief. With this work, she is exploring how very personal, unique emotions can become relatable and relevant to other people.
Em is a member of CTRL+SHFT Collective, an exhibition and studio space located in West Oakland. As a group of cis-women, trans-spectrum, gender non-conforming, queer, and PoC members, CTRL+SHFT interrogates what it means to build and be a part of a community. Through workshops, exhibitions, and other community engagements, CTRL+SHFT focuses on providing a platform for their ever-growing family, which includes writers, artists, thinkers, performers, curators, allies, agitators, organizers, activists, and teachers who are people of color, women, queer, trans-spectrum, and gender non-conforming folks.
Meine received a BFA in General Fine Arts at Maryland Institute College of Art and her MFA in Fine Art from California College of the Arts. She has exhibited in New York, Texas, Chicago, and California, including shows at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Southern Exposure, and The Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. Em lives and works in Oakland, CA.
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Learn more about Em on her website and follow her on Instagram.
As always, podcast music is provided by Mr. Neat Beats.