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:
[06:10] Brandi and Emily’s early struggles in Christianity and religion and where they’ve come to now.
[18:51] How choosing one discipline or tradition, like a religion, doesn’t have to mean that all the others aren’t true. In fact, it might enliven all of the other traditions even more.
[25:27] The value of committing yourself to a particular tradition and sneaky ways we individually and culturally avoid intimacy.
[37:27] Emily’s “Promises” blog.
[47:24] Strengthening the “host” instead of attacking the “invader”—a different way to think of “health.”
[55:22] The visceral nature of grief and joy.
[56:32] Eve’s greatest sin wasn’t eating the apple, it was choosing the knowledge of “good” and “evil”—a dualism.
[1:05:03] Meditation as a path to finding alignment.
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 Production Credits:
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Related Reading & Listening
Find most references mentioned in our conversation by checking out the episode's show notes. But, here are a few bonus resources related to our chat—
The episode of OnBeing where Krista Tippett quotes a Greek philosopher, Solon, on “myth.”
Lauren’s friend, who said “Heal the soul and the body will follow,” is named Angela Kittock. She runs a life coaching business called Moondance Wellness. I can’t remember if that quote is from the March or April episodes of her podcast, but you should just go listen to all of them.
When Emily mentions a previous conversation I’ve had about generalists vs. specialists, she’s referring to my episode with David Epstein.
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