emma edmondson

@emerrrhhhh and I are back on our outdoor studio at Hadleigh Farm Estate working on Dreamspace: Pending Aprroval with @estuaryfestival and @salarmyhfe . The outdoor studio is located on Hadleigh Farm Estate Farm, and for us is a space for collecting and processing existing materials that are used on site, while also producing a new material inventory in the form of bricks and tiles. The poetic quality of materials on site can be seen in everything from fence posts, timber, corrugated roofing, metal sheet, unistrut, roofing felt, old tents, hardwood logs, even orange safety barriers, which have all had a purpose and use value on this working farm. The visible wear and tear and organic growth that has grown on these older materials, emphasises the human and non human use value. These materials aim to not only be incorporated into the proposed architectural structure that will exist in the landscape, but have also part informed its very design. In many circumarnstanses these old weathered materials may end up in landfill, but for us, it is important to understand how we can utilise and revitalise these existing materials.

Summer’s over bitches…and this book ~ How to set up an art school ~ is nearly sold out! (Blimey) 2nd edition incoming. Shifts ahoy in many ways. Waiting for the waves 🌊 to ride me outta Essex for studies. Start my PhD 🍺 Alternative Art Schools and the Micro-Brewery as a space of cultural production 🍺 in a few weeks. A way to think about commune-ing (and still go clubbing) into the winter ❄️ The sun, the studio and friends (and loves) have bought joy in these dark times. 🌞 Books thru linx in bio 👆🏻

Some screengrabs from an editing sesh with @aaronshrimpton for ~ Clubbing and Commune-ing in Essex ~ multi project with @timoburrows Karaoke everywhere forever 🎤

“There used to be an art school in almost every town in England. Now across Greater Essex, there’s only one MA-level art course left, and it’s ours.” 💞 @theotherma 💞 I’ve written a piece for @_madeinessex about what we’ve lost as art schools disappear from Essex, and what we urgently need to rebuild. We need… 🏠 Permanent council buildings for artist-led education 👩🏻‍🎨 Trust artists to lead placemaking, not consultants 🎨 Support intergenerational creative learning spaces Art education isn’t just about making artists - it teaches critical thinking, adaptability and imagination. Skills we’re told are ‘future proof.’ But right now, the infrastructure to develop them is disappearing. 📢 If this resonates, @_madeinessex ’s Counting Culture campaign is gathering priorities from across the sector to shape what our new political leaders hear this July. 📢 It’s open until 24 May. Your voice matters. 🔗 Read the full piece + add your response: link in @_madeinessex & @emerrrhhhh bio #CountingCultureEssex #MadeInEssex #TOMA #CreativeEducation #ArtSchools #Southend

it’s getting shittier & shittier out there but let’s not forget the power of strangers & friends singing together 💞

💩 🚗 Meep meep toot toot 🚗 💩 I’m gonna have a raffle chaos tombola stall @theoldwaterworks boot fair on Sunday 10 May! £2 a raffle ticket and you either get a wrapped package from the box of old shit (perhaps some pens that don’t work, some blunt pencils or some out of date plaster) or if your number comes up an actual bronze-ish Jesmonite cast of Woolf’s poop. Roll that dice 🎲 Been rummaging through the dusty shelves of the mezzanine and studio cupboard for these goodies. All money from the tombola goes towards my edgeland-garage home brewery build I’m doing this summer 💪🏼 🔨 See ya there! And karaoke into the eve with @paigeockendon and meeeeee 🎤 🪩 with cocktails by @fernworsleyart Cute poster here by @ruthkathrynjones and the brick poo photo by Anna Lukala.

Forever trying to say the same thing, in different materials, I’m bringing back my hard tack sculpture making from 2017 🤯 for @artscollectivenn next week for a one off workshop. 🌝 🥯 These photos here are from 2016 - 2018 when I started making sculptures for survival, sculptures of uchronie, out of hard tack which can last up to 500 years. This includes some hard tack hors d’oeuvres and just-about-managing-jam made from blackberries found on edgelands, a repeating theme now being deepened in exploration for my PhD. But, hunting for hops now. I also made some blankets in the ode to The Diggers and common land for common people. Cycles and circles. If you’re in Northampton COME make hard tack with me, link in bio, and also see the very exciting artist-led and shaped space that’s being created there at @artscollectivenn blurby below: How to Build an Art Organisation (and Keep It Alive) Emma Edmondson 6 May 2026, 6-8pm In this participatory evening, artist and researcher Emma Edmondson shares insights from TOMA, an organisation shaped through experimentation, collaboration, and finding creative ways to work with what’s available. We’ll look at how artist-led initiatives can grow from modest beginnings into something sustainable, responsive, and collectively held. The session moves from conversation into making. Using excerpts from How to Set Up an Art School, we’ll work in small groups to map the values that matter most to us—what we want to build, support, and share. From there, participants will be paired up to imagine and construct their own speculative arts organisations. Working with hard tack - a simple, long-lasting material - you’ll create models of your ideas. As they bake, we’ll reflect on approaches to working together, including ideas around collaboration over competition, and how shared values can shape lasting creative communities. We’ll end the evening by presenting and discussing our models: a collection of imaginative, practical, and hopeful approaches to building arts organisations for the future. This event is part of our Guild programme

Oh what a wonderful book tour! Just wrapped up the 3rd leg of the book tour no one ever asked for 😆 taking in … 🌪️ Glasgow @strange_exchange_library 📕 Manchester @islingtonmillartacademy 🎨 Stoke-on-Trent @theportlandinnprojectcic 📖 Lincoln @lark_books_ @ames_pennington_ & @emerrrhhhh talked about the potential of failure, itching within creative education, keeping the hope & starting with what you got to create utopian art spaces & schools. We think there should be more art schools in whatever shape & form as long as they’re rooted in need, joy & love & forever DIY. Thanks for everyone’s energy & enthusiasm on the tour it’s been so inspiring to toot around the UK hearing about people’s experiences & plans, always learning. Made many new pals we hope to continue chatting to. Until then, the book is basically SOLD OUT think it’s online for a few more copies today available at the studio then that’s two editions gone ~ thanks to everyone who has supported & read it, we hope it’s been useful & thought provoking. Always welcoming feedback 🌱

The Second Edition is almost gone and we’re now down to the final copies, with a few copies left online through link in our bio. We’re also holding a small number back for the Second Edition tour, so this is your chance to catch it in person: Tue 7 April, 6.30–8.30pm: Glasgow, Strange Exchange at Strange Field @strangefieldglasgow @strange_exchange_library Wed 8 April, 6–7.30pm: Manchester, Islington Mill @islingtonmillartacademy Thu 9 April, 6.30–8.30pm: Stoke-on-Trent, The Portland Inn Project @theportlandinnprojectcic Fri 10 April, 5–7pm: Lincoln, Lark Books @lark_books_ These gatherings create space to rethink power, access, and possibility in art education through conversation, reflection, and collective imagining. Head to our bio to grab your free tickets. #AlternativeArtEducation #ArtCommunity #alternativeartschools #TheOtherMA #ArtSchool

Carrying new spiky friends on my sleeve during a recent recce to the spot in Hadleigh we’re going to be building a sculptural shelter. DIY as survival not as an aesthetic we have currently only bought two sheets of tarpaulin, otherwise using materials from the ground or found on site. Photo by @shauncbadham on a disposable camera.

HOW TO SET UP AN ART SCHOOL is back on the road  Emma Edmondson and Ames Pennington are touring the second edition of How to Set Up an Art School with a series of free events across the UK this April. These gatherings open up space to rethink power, access and possibility in art education;  through conversation, reflection and collective imagining. If you’ve ever wanted to: -  start an alternative art school -  rethink how learning happens -  build artist-run systems of care -  survive (and thrive) as an artist under austerity This tour is for you. Coming to… Glasgow Manchester Stoke-on-Trent Lincoln Open to all.  Come imagine your own art school with us. #AlternativeArtEducation #ArtistLed #HowToSetUpAnArtSchool #TOMA #ArtSchoolReimagined

Thinking about singing, dancing, drinking, making and working together in the ruins. Thinking about brewing some BRUINS. Thinking about these large scale digital prints from 2018 and 2015. Thinking about the eternal return, how time is a flat circle and how we are always trying to say the same thing through art making and the dizzy drunkenness of all that. 🍻 🥚 🖼️