Having grown up in England, Emma Stroude completed her studies in London at Chelsea College of Art and Design and The Slade School of Art. She moved to Ireland in 1996 and studied in NCAD before settling in Sligo. In Red Flag we are presented with the spectacle of coloured smoke and powder cloud. Our attention is drawn to how the figures choose to ignore, react, engage with these clouds of colour which prompts us to reflect on the diversity of their use for celebration, entertainment, protest, or alert. Emma is interested in play as a rehearsal for the challenges of adult life and she is fascinated by physical and emotional tests in our life experiences, these moments when we choose how to react. In October 2019, Kildare County Council Arts Officer Lucina Russell gave a community arts group of thirteen local participants the task of two selecting artworks for the MAC. The group choose two oil paintings by Emma Stroude, whose solo show at The Kildare Gallery in Carton House they had just visited with their facilitator, the artist Vera McEvoy.
Emma Stroud - The Red Flag
