Object Lessons

Still life painters have fascinating studios. Their subjects are their things, and their things are their subjects.

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So the venue where they create is part studio and part museum, with a generous serving of antique store thrown in for good measure.

That ’s certainly the case with Emily Copeland, whose studio is near Vancouver, and it’s filled with the objects she uses for her highly detailed charcoal works. The objects in her pieces, many of them featuring vintage or antique materials, can be found all around her studio: sports equipment, musical instruments, creaky old leather items, mechanical devices made of brass and steel, ornate instruments of the past and other miscellaneous items. What ties them all together is their visual appeal to the artist, who will be showing her new works in the show Timeless: The Extraordinary Art of Emily Copeland, opening March 1 at RJD Gallery.

“I love antique objects. I love that they all tell their own stories, and they can really resonate with people. But what it really comes down to is a list of things I like: items with detail, reflections or shine, items that have contrast,” Copeland says. “I’m very picky because when I work with something, I might spend a month or two with it, so it has to be perfect. Really flat objects are hard because they have no depth. The same with things that are one color. There’s really no method for how I choose things, as long as they meet those standards and they are unique.”