Emily Irwin [.2001. Belfast] is a Northern Irish oil painter based in Manchester currently completing her MFA at Manchester School of Art.

Irwin’s practice centres on a connection to place and a sense of longing for home. Through her paintings, she brings together different qualities of light to capture moments of stillness and calm within everyday life. Drawing inspiration from specific locations and personal experiences, she creates spaces contained within the edges of the canvas that are both deeply personal and universally familiar. While rooted in her own memories, the painted patterns of light remain open enough to invite individual interpretation.

Her process combines careful planning with intuitive decision-making. More recently, she has incorporated traditional painting techniques such as glazing, building layers of colour and light to create depth and atmosphere. This balance between considered structure and spontaneity is central to her practice.

She is also a founding member of the 1838 MSOA Collective in Manchester.

INSTAGRAM:

emily.irwinart

1838_collective