Emily Claire Pike is a Toronto artist who specializes in painting abstracted urban and natural landscapes, portraits, and autobiographical interiors, portrayed in process and materials driven paintings.

She often combines layers of collage with acrylic and oil paint, as well as items like maps, sewing patterns, and handwritten journal entries. Embedding these personal items into the paint and mediums gives “voice” to a piece, combined with the process of scratching into the wet surface with text, mark making and charcoal. She is also drawn to creating portraits that dissect the landscapes and stories of the face, and interior settings that elevate the mundane and reveal details of the occupants by the objects they choose to be surrounded by.

Themes of eco-feminism, the somatic healing of art, and strong female role models in her life – women that didn’t always have the privilege to use their voices and creativity — also lend a strong influence.