‘High Water’ @hotelfigueroa Artist in residence 3/26-3/27 🌊🌊 For seven years, my art studio has flooded every time it rains.
What began as an inconvenience became part of the conditions I work within. Each season, water moves through the space, shifting the room, slowing time, and altering how the work takes form.
High Water takes its name from the idea of continuing regardless of conditions. The flooding is both literal and embedded in the process. Certain forms and symbols continue to surface, including serpents, tulips, mirrored reflections, Medusa, and Venus. These images hold movement, protection, growth, and water itself. Paintings move between rooms. Neon repeats and builds, forming its own language. Making becomes a practice of setting aside doubt and following curiosity, continuing forward as the work asserts its own direction.
Movement in art pieces adds a lot of life and I try to accomplish this with color and technique, but with glass that becomes difficult in the tangible sense. So I have my High Water piece that can finally have the sense of water flowing as it does in real time.
This painting is 12 x 8 feet of High Water. Every time it rains my studio floods, so what you are looking at is the doorways to my studio with a flood of water coming in through the front entrance door and all of my paintings floating around the studio. Yes, this really happened. This is how I first discovered the studio floods. This canvas had been completely submerged when I entered one day.
I used to call it swimming in my money, because in a sense every dollar I make is invested into the studio. But as time goes by, paintings grow, dry, and blossom into their forms. I have titled this piece High Water. The significance is both literal and figurative, as I have adapted to my conditions and continue to work in this space.
I now have this painting hanging in @hotelfigueroa centered in their main restaurant. I’ll tell the story of building out the frame another day.
#highwater #emilycolvin #hotelfigueroa #artistresidency 💦
Still on cloud nine! @hotelfigueroa and @wearerhc 's panel on women in LA's art scene was everything! I got to talk about my experiences, and the future of design and hospitality. @stacysuaya from @gettymuseum , and Lori from @ywcaglaceo and @gabbybvasquez were amazing co-panelists. And @estherforcongress , you kept it so real! Thanks to @hotelfigueroa and the leadership of Connie and Mathew for an unforgettable night! And to my friends and fam, I couldn't have done it without you! @michael_laudi , @schwab_lisa , @smplysweet , @coogeeworld ... love you guys! @robieezee 's photos are 🔥 ✨. High Water exhibit is up for a year, let's celebrate! 🌊
Ok guys… here’s the real story of how I landed an artist residency in a hotel in DTLA.
It didn’t come from an application.
It didn’t come from a gallery.
And it definitely didn’t happen overnight.
It came from a few very specific things that most artists overlook:
1. I treated my work like it already belonged in that space
Not “one day” energy. I presented it ready now.
2. I focused on relationships, not transactions
I wasn’t pitching constantly. I was building real connections over time.
3. I created work that made sense for hospitality
Not just what I liked — what would actually live in a hotel environment.
4. I stayed consistently professional — no matter what
Meetings got rescheduled. Timelines stretched. Things went quiet.
I stayed available, clear, and respectful of the process the entire time.
Most opportunities don’t come from one big moment…
they come from a lot of small, aligned moves stacking up.
I’m going to break down exactly what I said, who I reached out to, and how the deal actually came together in the next post.
Follow along if you want the real behind-the-scenes of building an art career in LA ✨ #emilycolvin #glass #artistinresidence #hotelfigueroa
Let’s goooo ✨
Excited to team up with Hotel Figueroa @hotelfigueroa as their New Artist in Residence 2026 🤘🏼
If you're in LA this Wednesday night, come watch me and some other majorly talented women speak on a panel titled "The Women Designing LA: LA's Art, Design and Hotel Scene Over 100 Years" as Hotel Figueroa celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.
DM me if you'd like to join! I would love to see you there.
Drinks, DJ, complimentary valet and the gorgeous hotel.
💫
ONE THE PANEL
Esther Kim Varet @estherforcongress (Moderator) – Founder, Various Small Fires @vsf
Emily Colvin – 2026 Featured Artist, Hotel Figueroa
Lori Carmona @ywcaglaceo – CEO, YWCA Greater Los Angeles
Gabby Vasquez @gabbybvasquez – Los Angeles Based Visual Artist
Stacy Suaya @stacysuaya - Editor for J. Paul Getty Trust
Photo by: @nataliaforsey 💚💚💚
