Emily Thomas MaHarry

As a runner, I spend a lot of time in the mountains and forests, where I reset my nervous system and focus on the flashes of color that shape the landscape around me. On trail runs I often bring a sketchbook, using the drawings as points of departure for later paintings.

I’m drawn to the composition of landscapes- the negative space between trees, clusters of flora and fauna, and shadows cast by the crests of the day. Running and painting are parallel acts of exploration and observation.

When I start a painting, I build up layers of color. This accumulation reflects how I process emotion - some colors are buried, others remain visible, but the layers are always present, and thoughts become visual.

As I work, these layers eventually depict the shifting boundary between space and place, moving from a dreamstate toward consciousness.“Space” is unfamiliar, something to explore, while “place” is groundedness and connection. Running mountain trails, exploring the wilderness: these are spaces that, over time, become familiar. As I establish a connection to the land, it becomes “place,” transforming a geographical location into a meaningful environment marked by an emotional bond. My paintings reflect the value and resonance of that transition.

Born in Portland, Maine, in 1978, Emily Thomas Maharry earned her BFA in printmaking from Colby-Sawyer College in 2001. In 2008, during the recession, she lost her position as an in-house designer at a landscape architecture firm in Portland, Maine, and relocated to California.

She began painting professionally in 2020, served as the artist-in-residence at the George Anderson Gallery (2023–2024), and has participated in various group exhibitions. She is currently based in Ojai, California.