Bio
Emily Basham is an artist and architect living in the greater Chicagoland area. After completing her BFA at the University of Arizona, she was a founding member of Central Arts Collective. CAC was an artist-run gallery in Tucson Arizona where she participated in group shows as well as curating guest and group shows. She exhibited her work in juried shows in Arizona, including the Tucson Art Museum’s 1980 Biennial show. Her pastel painting was included in the Biennial Catalog.
Basham enrolled at the University of Washington to pursue a Master of Architecture. She was awarded several scholarships, including a stipend to live in Stockholm for four months pursuing thesis research. She was able to meet and interview many artists and the architects who designed the famed Stockholm subway system. Her thesis, titled The Mythic Imagination in Public Art: Stockholm Tunnelbana Stations examines the role of public art on the stage of the city and how public art can embody cultural meaning.
Ms. Basham’s professional practice was in institutional and commercial architecture in Chicago with an interest in sustainable design. She is a faculty member of the College of DuPage Department of Architecture. Her art work continues to investigate the role of art and the poetics of shared meaning in our culture that she examined as an architect.
Self Portrait/ Leather Guy. Graphite, 18 X 24 inches