Emily Player

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material and maker 2026

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Emily Player is an artist, crafter and nature based expressive arts facilitator who lives in the North East of Scotland where she enjoys foraging and creating. Emily likes to work with natural materials. As many artists find, nature is a never ending supply of meaningful inspiration. She feels most whole and peaceful when she is connected to the natural world around her and her creativity. Emily likes to create spaces and places for other people to connect to these two things as well. A simple and gentle way to add a little goodness into the world. 

    

One material Emily particularly enjoys working with is tree bark. She finds the textures, colours and smells wonderful and it's potential inspiring. For Emily, the whole process of foraging, pealing, cutting, drying and crafting the bark, is completely fascinating and absorbing.

   

The bark used in these pieces is Willow. Emily often chooses willow to work with as it grows plentifully where she lives and re grows enthusiastically when harvested. Other favourite ones are, Lime, Poplar, Birch, Elm and Ash. Each one has its own special personality, which makes things so interesting for her. Emily feels she now have a very different understanding and appreciation of these trees as she has got to know their barks.

 

She loves the way the bark starts out like a soft, green, wet leather, but once dried, it returns to a hard, woody hollowness, reminiscent of its former tree self. As each piece drys, it takes on its own unique shape and form, humbling Emily’s attempts at control, neatness and perfection.

 

When Emily holds a finished basket in her hands, she always find herself thinking that our ancestors must have made containers and other things out of bark. What did they know about working with this wonderful material that has now been lost? It gives her such a strong sense of connection to the land around her and the people who lived here before, as she tries to rediscover some small parts of this knowledge.

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Click the image for details and if you are interested in Emily Player's work please enquire below.​​​​​​