Emily Plewe enters 2026 amid a significant shift in how—and how much—she is able to work. After a career change and a move that brought both her home and studio into new alignment, she says, “I am now working full-time in the studio,” a change that’s allowing her to build on a decades-long engagement with science-informed abstraction.

Plewe has spent the past 25 years creating work “inspired by concepts in quantum physics,” and that focus continues to drive her current output. She is now “creating new paintings, drawings, and mixed media work,” and notes that some works now include video projection. Each piece is anchored in sustained inquiry: “Each artwork deeply delves into a specific concept in quantum physics or cosmology, for which I do extensive research before and during the creation of each piece.” While her sources are scientific, her aim is not explanatory. “My work seeks not to explain or illustrate these scientific theories and concepts,” Plewe writes, “but rather to explore them using abstraction and conceptual approaches,” while still ensuring that “correct and up-to-date knowledge of scientific concepts underpins each piece.”

Work in progress: “FUNCTION 2, 2024-2025, acrylic, graphite and mixed media on canvas, 48×48 in. In the new year, Plewe is experimenting with activating her paintings with video overlay (see below).

In 2026, her research process itself is expanding. “I’m particularly excited to open up my process to include conversations with physicists as part of my research,” she says, signaling a more dialogic approach to how new work takes shape. She’s also continuing to push technically: “I’m also very excited to deepen my exploration of video and other media integrations in the work.”

That expansion builds on ideas articulated in her artist statement, where she describes work that “explores themes of interaction, energy, and interrelationships,” shaped by a long-standing engagement with physics. “I find these concepts to be endlessly fascinating and evocative,” she writes, noting their ability to illuminate “the workings of the universe at micro and macro scales,” as well as “the deeper conceptual and metaphysical questions which inevitably arise from these theories and discoveries.”

Plewe situates art as a tool for thinking across disciplines. “As an artist, I believe in the power of visualization,” she states. “It can expand understanding and push boundaries in all manner of disciplines,” particularly through “the process of intuiting visuals for things which may not even be visible or even truly knowable.”

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Every January we check in with Utah artists to see what the new year holds in store for them.