2012 Signal Gallery
2012 Liverpool Biennial, Corke Gallery
2012 Picks of the Harvest, Thinkspace gallery, California, USA
2011 The Biscuit factory autumn show, Newcastle
2010 Thinkspace 5 Year Anniversary Show, California, USA
2009 Grifters, Lazarides Gallery, Rathbone Place, London
2009 The Art lounge, Birmingham
2009 Myth and History, The Bristol Gallery
2009 Bohemia Galleries, York
2009 OPS Exhibitions, Stadtgallerie, Stadtbibliothek and Lagerhalle Osnabrück, Germany
2008 Liverpool Biennial – Liverpool International Artists Exhibition at NOVAS CUC [see photos]
2008 Gaze portraiture exhibition, Derby City Museum and Art Gallery
2007 Djanogly Gallery, Nottingham
2007 View Two Gallery, Liverpool
2001 Royal Society of Portrait Painters exhibition, Mall Galleries, London [see photo]

Emma Tooth's paintings feature in many private collections all over the world, as well as in the collections of the Derby Chamber of Commerce and Derbyshire Libraries. Derby City Museum and Art Gallery have commissioned a new work from Emma for their permanent collection, to be unveiled in spring 2012.

In 2004 and 2008 Emma was awarded UK Arts Council funding for her Ophelia and Concilium Plebis projects, respectively. In 2000 she took the Artist's Commission Prize at the Derby Open. Emma and her work regularly appear in films, books, magazines, special events and on TV, radio and web worldwide.

2010 Extraordinary Portraits of Ordinary People - a documentary film about Emma Tooth's work.
2008 Effigy by Owen Tooth. Costume design, props and cameo
2006 The Opening by Owen Tooth. Costumes, concepts, art and cameo appearance
2003 Conceptual by Owen Tooth - assistant director and storyboards
2003 Arachne - concept and co-director with Owen Tooth
2002 Catharsis by Owen Tooth. Artwork

consider myself a portraitist first and foremost. It is the creation of likeness which fascinates me; a glint of gold in the shadows, the flicker of an eyelid, the shimmering pulsation of nerves under skin. Likeness is always at the centre of my work; the almost mathematical relationships of feature to feature are just the beginning, but accuracy is essential.
Using the historically loaded medium of oil on canvas, but sometimes working on other surfaces such as sackcloth or decayed wood, I set out to create jewel-like treasures, like altar pieces or the small icons intended for personal devotion. Alongside my painting I also make the historically-influenced costumes which appear in some of my paintings. This is a response, I suppose, to my restless discomfort with a soulless, mundane 21st century devoid of decoration or beauty or the magical promises made by a century of fantastical predictions. I look back to the costume and manner of the 1880s, to Symbolist and Pre-Raphaelite art, to Art Nouveau and Japanese imagery. Costume, masquerade and artifice are essential elements of my work, continuing my long-time explorations of self-image and self-presentation. There is a sense of escapism; most of my paintings are of a single figure, of a solitary moment, withdrawn from the rest of the world.

My paintings begin life inside my head, I see them there first; all my preliminary sketches and developments happen there. Then I begin to stage photographs for reference, controlling lighting, costume and pose, bringing the images in my head into the real world. Photographs are essential to my practice, particularly for my self-portraits - working from a mirror would not provide me with the unmoving accuracy I require.
I relish the glowing transparency and texture of oil paint and more and more I seek to create, as well as the overall image, a kind of macro-feast of surface texture which can only really be appreciated close up.

Humans relate to images of of other humans, particularly faces, on a visceral, subconscious level; this is why portraiture is especially powerful and relevant. After layers of meaning and concept are stripped away, that relationship remains. My images can be very intimate and very personal, drawing on my own lived experiences of Love, sadness and joy.