hi, i’m emma, and its so nice to meet you
I’m glad you’re here. Read on to get to know a little bit about me, and by all means reach out if you think it’s time I get to know a little bit about you too!
first things first, let’s get situated
I’m an illustrator, graphic recorder, and creative facilitator based in London, Ontario, a place also known as Deshkan Ziibi, or Antler River. I live and work here on the traditional land of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak, and Attawandaron peoples; land that is connected to the London Township and Sombra Treaties of 1796, and the Dish with One Spoon Covenant Wampum.
I acknowledge the historic and ongoing injustices that Indigenous Peoples face in Canada and across Turtle Island, as well as the longstanding, active relationships that Indigenous Nations have with this land. I accept my responsibility as a settler of Irish, Italian, German, and French heritage to continue learning about the true history of these lands, the acts of racism and colonization that Indigenous Peoples did and do endure here; to continually unlearn this racism and colonization as it lives in me; and to be actively involved in striving for justice and right relationship in my community.
As mentioned above, my name is Emma Richard (“ri-shard”). I live in a triplex in London, Ontario with my wife, where I spend a lot of time drawing, reading, pondering, cooking, and having great conversations over tea with friends. I also love a good walk in the woods, a handwritten note, and the sound of water on a rock beach.
I’m a Myers-Briggs INFP-T, a 9w1 on the Enneagram, a Leo sun, Gemini moon, Virgo rising, and a highly sensitive person. I have been brought to tears on multiple occasions by the taste of a perfectly ripe peach. My only car is a bike, and I discovered in my mid-twenties that I am a lesbian, which made a lot of other things in my life make sense. As you can likely tell, this is not the most professional bio, and that is because I believe quite strongly in getting to know the people we work with not merely as “professionals” but as humans, because that’s what we are.
I’ll end (for now) with a few things that matter to me:
Creative self expression
Growing in emotional intelligence
Dancing for FUN
Communities in which people feel truly cared for
Paying attention to being alive
now, a bit about me
and also a bit about my work
I’m assuming that if you’re here, you have some level of curiosity in visual storytelling and/or the magic of the arts, and that’s great! We have that in common. I do want to point out that when I talk about the arts, I don’t generally mean some sort of exclusive fine arts that are only accessible to a select, gifted, tortured few. There’s good in those arts, but what I get really excited about are the arts in the guttural, human, instinctual, boundless sense. Those arts are incredible, and they have the power to show us so much about ourselves.
Like a lot of us adults, I first connected with those arts as a kid. I danced, drew, painted, sang, and didn’t worry one bit about who it might be seen by or whether it was any good. But also like many of us, I lost touch with my seven year-old artist. I studied to be an engineer, and after realizing that was not the career for me, the arts slowly reeled me back in.
Today I connect my analytic engineer with my seven year-old artist to listen, intuit, and make sense of people’s ideas, and translate them into visual pieces. I do this both in real-time as a graphic recorder, and at a more measured pace as an illustrator. At the heart of my work, I aim to create visuals that, yes, look appealing, but that also lead to better communication and deeper understanding of the matters at hand, both within individuals and across larger groups. It is an endlessly interesting and deeply human practice of listening and creating. You can find out more about my work over in my Portfolio section.