Emily Counts: So Familiar, at studio e December 16th, 2023

A coven of life-sized, ceramic figures stand in ceremony in Emily Counts’ exhibition “So Familiar,” the artist’s third show with studio e gallery. Each figure is a composite portrait of women in the artist’s past and is paired with an animal familiar; a spiritual companion believed in folklore to protect and assist. In the front gallery space, owls, cats, spiders and moths each align with their kindred spirit. These pairs are steeped with symbols of their strength and energy, describing deeply personal beings while still allowing the viewer to interpret their own meanings and narratives through rearranged facial features, glowing interiors and raucous, velvet hues.
In the back of the gallery, the Great Grandmother Wizard Queen lies in repose surrounded by offerings of abundance and creative plenty. Larger than life and with an ever-spinning spider in her belly, she watches over the others and bestows ingenuity. By reconfiguring these figures and their accompanying objects from her previous installation “Sea of Vapors” at the Museum of Museums, Emily Counts creates new narratives for these figures as they move from space to space.