JOEY EMBERS
Artist Bio & Selected Exhibitions
Kansas, USA
www.joeyembers.org
Artist Bio (Press-Ready)
Joey Embers is a Kansas-based painter whose work explores the shifting interior architecture of memory, identity, and lived experience. Moving fluidly between surreal interior spaces, psychological landscapes, plein air studies, and figurative work, Embers creates imagery that feels both intimate and otherworldly—places where the emotional and physical world overlap.
His ongoing series Roaming House reimagines the house as a wandering vessel: a structure in motion, carrying fragments of the past across open fields, horizon lines, and imagined terrain. In contrast, his Rooms of the Interior paintings investigate the quiet spaces we inhabit internally—dreamlike rooms marked by tension, stillness, and the residue of personal history.
Across bodies of work, Embers’ paintings are grounded in careful observation and an instinctive, intuitive mark-making that holds the heat of a moment. Whether working on site in the Kansas landscape or reconstructing psychic spaces from memory, his practice is rooted in presence, vulnerability, and the search for meaning within the ordinary.
His exhibitions include solo and group shows across Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska, with works featured at the Deines Cultural Center, Salina Art Center, Smoky Valley Arts & Folklife Center, and the NOTO Arts District. Embers was also a Red Barn Studio resident artist in 2012
He currently lives and paints in Kansas.
Artist Bio & Selected Exhibitions
Kansas, USA
www.joeyembers.org
Artist Bio (Press-Ready)
Joey Embers is a Kansas-based painter whose work explores the shifting interior architecture of memory, identity, and lived experience. Moving fluidly between surreal interior spaces, psychological landscapes, plein air studies, and figurative work, Embers creates imagery that feels both intimate and otherworldly—places where the emotional and physical world overlap.
His ongoing series Roaming House reimagines the house as a wandering vessel: a structure in motion, carrying fragments of the past across open fields, horizon lines, and imagined terrain. In contrast, his Rooms of the Interior paintings investigate the quiet spaces we inhabit internally—dreamlike rooms marked by tension, stillness, and the residue of personal history.
Across bodies of work, Embers’ paintings are grounded in careful observation and an instinctive, intuitive mark-making that holds the heat of a moment. Whether working on site in the Kansas landscape or reconstructing psychic spaces from memory, his practice is rooted in presence, vulnerability, and the search for meaning within the ordinary.
His exhibitions include solo and group shows across Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska, with works featured at the Deines Cultural Center, Salina Art Center, Smoky Valley Arts & Folklife Center, and the NOTO Arts District. Embers was also a Red Barn Studio resident artist in 2012
He currently lives and paints in Kansas.
Selected Exhibitions
2025
Café Quetzal – Feature Artist
Topeka, KS — March–October
2024
Mystery, Magic, and the Macabre Exhibition
The Deines Cultural Center — Russell, KS
Stems Plein-Air
The Rice Gallery of Fine Art — Overland Park, KS
Bold is Back
Bancroft Street Market — Omaha, NE
Solo Exhibition
Smoky Valley Arts & Folklife Center — Lindsborg, KS
2021
Finding My Path
The Deines Cultural Center — Russell, KS
Small Gestures of Repair
Salina Art Center — Salina, KS
2020
All Staff Art Show
Sabbatini Art Gallery, Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library — Topeka, KS
Decade of NOTO Celebration
The Morris Gallery, NOTO Arts Center — Topeka, KS
Drive-By Art Shows – August & June (First Fridays)
Southeast Topeka, KS
2019
Matryoshka Tattoo — NOTO Arts District — Topeka, KS
2018
Josey Baking Co. — Topeka, KS
Concealed Revealed (YWCA Center for Safety and Empowerment) — Topeka, KS
Roaming House: A Journey Home — Solo Show
The Clayworks at Disability Supports — McPherson, KS
2017
Amused Gallery — NOTO Arts District — Topeka, KS
2016
Roaming House: A Journey Home – Solo Show
First Friday Art Walk, Window Gallery — Salina, KS
Roy G. Biv: Color Defined — Alice C. Sabatini Gallery — Topeka, KS
Concealed Revealed — YWCA Center for Safety and Empowerment — Topeka, KS
2014
Solo Exhibition — Salina Country Club — Salina, KS
At the Core — NOTO Arts Center — Topeka, KS
Sunsets on Today — Solo Show
Gravity Gallery — Topeka, KS
2013
Uncharted Regions — Group Show
Warehouse 414 — Topeka, KS
2012
Dreams & Nightmares — Juried Show
Warehouse 414 — Topeka, KS
Stonewall Art Gallery — Feature Artist
NOTO Arts District — Topeka, KS
RAW Natural Born Artist “RADIATE”
Uptown Theater — Kansas City, MO
Rooms of the Interior — Solo Exhibition
Heritage Gallery — McPherson, KS
Red Barn Residency
Red Barn Studio — Lindsborg, KS
2005 – 2000
Bethany College Alumni Show — Sandzén Memorial Gallery — Lindsborg, KS
The Cup and Saucer — Kansas City, MO
The Waldo Public Library — Kansas City, MO
Marysville Art Center — Marysville, KS
Senior Art Show (Bethany College) — Lindsborg, KS
Blue Stem Gallery — Salina, KS
Café Quetzal – Feature Artist
Topeka, KS — March–October
2024
Mystery, Magic, and the Macabre Exhibition
The Deines Cultural Center — Russell, KS
Stems Plein-Air
The Rice Gallery of Fine Art — Overland Park, KS
Bold is Back
Bancroft Street Market — Omaha, NE
Solo Exhibition
Smoky Valley Arts & Folklife Center — Lindsborg, KS
2021
Finding My Path
The Deines Cultural Center — Russell, KS
Small Gestures of Repair
Salina Art Center — Salina, KS
2020
All Staff Art Show
Sabbatini Art Gallery, Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library — Topeka, KS
Decade of NOTO Celebration
The Morris Gallery, NOTO Arts Center — Topeka, KS
Drive-By Art Shows – August & June (First Fridays)
Southeast Topeka, KS
2019
Matryoshka Tattoo — NOTO Arts District — Topeka, KS
2018
Josey Baking Co. — Topeka, KS
Concealed Revealed (YWCA Center for Safety and Empowerment) — Topeka, KS
Roaming House: A Journey Home — Solo Show
The Clayworks at Disability Supports — McPherson, KS
2017
Amused Gallery — NOTO Arts District — Topeka, KS
2016
Roaming House: A Journey Home – Solo Show
First Friday Art Walk, Window Gallery — Salina, KS
Roy G. Biv: Color Defined — Alice C. Sabatini Gallery — Topeka, KS
Concealed Revealed — YWCA Center for Safety and Empowerment — Topeka, KS
2014
Solo Exhibition — Salina Country Club — Salina, KS
At the Core — NOTO Arts Center — Topeka, KS
Sunsets on Today — Solo Show
Gravity Gallery — Topeka, KS
2013
Uncharted Regions — Group Show
Warehouse 414 — Topeka, KS
2012
Dreams & Nightmares — Juried Show
Warehouse 414 — Topeka, KS
Stonewall Art Gallery — Feature Artist
NOTO Arts District — Topeka, KS
RAW Natural Born Artist “RADIATE”
Uptown Theater — Kansas City, MO
Rooms of the Interior — Solo Exhibition
Heritage Gallery — McPherson, KS
Red Barn Residency
Red Barn Studio — Lindsborg, KS
2005 – 2000
Bethany College Alumni Show — Sandzén Memorial Gallery — Lindsborg, KS
The Cup and Saucer — Kansas City, MO
The Waldo Public Library — Kansas City, MO
Marysville Art Center — Marysville, KS
Senior Art Show (Bethany College) — Lindsborg, KS
Blue Stem Gallery — Salina, KS