Emma Barnes is a multi-disciplinary artist from Islandton, South Carolina. She attended the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities from 2008 to 2010. In 2014, she graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a BFA in Painting & Printmaking and a double major in Gender Studies. In 2019 she attended Athena Standards, an art residency in Athens, Greece. In 2022, Barnes received an MFA in Painting, Drawing and Photography in the Alfred University international Düsseldorf program. Barnes is currently an instructor for Painting and Drawing at University of South Carolina Beaufort. She continues to produce and exhibit work around the country including Lake City’s 2023 Art Fields Festival, the Arts Center of Greenwood, Florida Mining Gallery, Michigan Medicine Gallery, Montgomery College Gallery in Maryland, Redux Center for Contemporary Art, Arts Southeast, 701 Center for Contemporary Art, and Emrose Projects.