Emily Payne works with a variety of materials, including wire, used book parts, graphite, found wood, and metal. She creates bodies of work that explore the interplay between light and shadow, two-dimensional drawings and three-dimensional sculptures, and the ways objects and drawings can energize and animate the space around them.
Payne received her M.F.A. in Book Arts and Printmaking from San Francisco State University and her B.A. in Literature and Women's Studies from Oberlin College. She lives and works in Berkeley, California. Her work has been exhibited at the Seager Gray Gallery in Mill Valley, the SFMOMA Artist Gallery in San Francisco, and the Kala Art Institute in Berkeley.