Colorado Mesa University (CMU) alumni Emily Adamson’s murals can be spotted all over town. Places such as the 5 Street breezeway downtown, Basecamp Provisions, Eagle Rim Skatepark and the backside of Copeka Coffee showcase her unique artwork, which has become a staple for many local businesses.
Adamson is a working artist from Grand Junction who graduated in 2020. She earned her degree in fine arts with an emphasis in graphic design. Adamson is an illustrator who brings her digital work to life in the form of large scale spray paint or fiber artworks.
While conversing on Copeka’s patio, Adamson expressed that she feels very rooted in her hometown and wants to foster an enduring and strong art scene in Junction.
“Creating communities through art is what I’m trying to focus on at this point,” Adamson said.
She stated that her time at CMU was eye-opening in many ways. Adamson learned in college that you will be forced to criticize your work in a productive way. She also felt her creativity was pushed as well as her ability to collaborate with people in her cohort. All of this resulted in Adamson pursuing visual art as her profession and saw it as a way for her to connect with her community.
Adamson made and retained many relationships at CMU, including her advisor and the head of the graphic design program, Professor Eli Hall. He enjoyed having Adamson in the program and said that she was a student he could always use as a reference to point other students in the right direction on assignments. He is proud to have helped cultivate her talent and loves that his former student is pursuing art as a profession.
“Emily is intelligent and she would always come up with something clever,” Hall said.
Hall and Adamson now run in adjacent social circles in our community’s art scene, both as working artists.
“I think there’s great opportunities for it to be a creative hub here,” Adamson said.
Instead of pursuing art in larger cities or doing graphic design for a firm, she wants to construct her own niche in town, not only to make art her profession but to show other working artists that the Grand Valley has the capacity for them.
Using her favorite mediums, fiber and spray paint, she is offering workshops to the public, where anyone of any skill level can join. Adamson states that accessibility is extremely important to her. She wants to offer alternative activities for the community that lie outside of going to a bar or going on a hike.
Adamson referenced something we are all likely to be familiar with. Referred to as the “hobby graveyard”, there’s a period of investment of time and money into something that eventually goes unfinished and takes up space in the back of a closet.
By providing the materials and tools necessary, she helps community members try out new forms of artwork on a flat fee, so they can explore without fear of wasting money or materials. The intention is to allow attendees to try something new with little to no risk and be a part of a community bigger than themselves.
“Finding this little pocket of people that want to do the same kind of stuff is just brilliant,” community member Emma Wood, who attended Emily’s needle-punching workshop, said.
Having experienced the fine arts program, Emily offers a piece of advice for the CMU visual art students. Don’t procrastinate and take breaks when necessary.
During the First Friday event on Oct. 6, which will serve as the kick-off event for Grand Junction’s eighth annual Downtown Art Festival, she will be displaying collaborative pieces that bring together all of the community’s work from the various events she has hosted.
Emily has registration forms for her workshops on her Instagram, @byemilyadamson. Her website byemilyadamson.com features a vast portfolio and gives a good idea of her style.
