Painting + Prayer, Part 1 with Emily McIlroy

Emily McIlroy (she/her) was born and raised in Norman, Oklahoma with her twin brother Ross. She received her BA in Studio Art from the University of Arizona in 2005, and her MFA in Drawing and Painting from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2011. She served many years as an instructor and an art educator for the Honolulu Museum of Art School, and the Hawaii State Art Museum and currently teaches in the drawing and painting program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. 

When she's not teaching or in her studio, Emily enjoys reading, writing and walking, and swimming her way through various terrestrial and aquatic wildernesses. She lives and works in Honolulu in Pālolo Valley with her very vocal Siamese cat.

In this episode, on the intersections of Painting + Prayer, we talk about:

[11:13] How Emily and I came to know each other.
[11:45] Emily talks about her body of work, The Lilies, as prayers.
[26:28] Art as the whetstone of consciousness.
[31:59] Paradox as a feature of the human mind.
[38:35] Emily's story of losing her twin brother and how it’s shaped her life and work.
[42:36] Where the title for Emily’s “Lilies” exhibit comes from.
[45:31] Questions like “Who am I?” and “What’s my purpose” as invitations to prayer.
[56:46] Thinking of death as a dimension beyond our current perception.
[1:01:23] Life and death as part of the same continuum.
[1:18:43} The artist’s role in translating the unknown into languages others can understand.
[1:21:09] What it means to pray without ceasing.
[1:35:57] Emily shares her battle with an autoimmune disease when she was young.
[1:41:24] “Good deaths” vs. “bad deaths.”
[1:43:12] Self-respect as the path to being most fully alive.
[1:49:07] The beauty of being fully present.
[1:52:45] Your health is a reflection of the health of your community.
[1:56:38] The gift of helping other people come alive through your work.
[1:59:27] The depths of your grief can only be as deep as your love.
[2:01:55] There is no such thing as faith if there is no doubt.

Prefer to see this conversation instead? Watch the full episode on Youtube. You can also find more on our conversation and links to everything we discussed by checking out this episode’s show notes.

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Podcast Management & Production Credits:
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