Bio ~ Emily

Emily Brewton Schilling

Organizational Communications
for nonprofits

New York City

EXPERIENCE

1998-present: Freelance writer, editor, designer, website creator (links below)

2020-present: Studio Graphics/Website design for Theodore A. Harris, artist

2008-present: President & Founding Director, James E. Brewton Foundation, nonprofit

1997-1998: Compaq Computer Corporation, Houston, Texas
Manager, Communications, Corporate Quality/Customer Satisfaction

1996-1997: Federated Department Stores, Inc., San Francisco, Calif.
Manager, Employee Communications, Macy’s West Division

1990-1996: Armstrong World Industries, Inc., Lancaster, Pa.
Manager, Employee Publications

1989-1990: Fulton Opera House Foundation, Lancaster, Pa.
Public Relations Director

1987-1989: The Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, Pa.
Public Relations and Program Director

1985-1986: The South Street Star, Philadelphia, Pa.
Art reviewer and assistant publisher

1983-1985: WMMR, 93.3 FM, Philadelphia, Pa.
Marketing assistant

When I launched my communications consulting business, corporate clients included Ancestry.com, Compaq, Cspace.com, Forbes ASAP, Quokka Sports and NBCOlympics.com. Over the past few years, I’ve refocused my work to specialize in communications and online presences for artists and cultural nonprofit organizations, adding website design, social media management and grant writing to my skills. I created and maintain websites for Philadelphia-based artist Theodore A. Harris; the Philadelphia Avant-Garde Studies Consortium (PASC); and the James E. Brewton Foundation. I also help create graphics and files for Harris’s digital artworks.
In 2008 I began working to locate and preserve my father’s artwork (he died young, in 1967), forming the James E. Brewton Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. My work has been fruitful, and his work was exhibited in group shows in 2012 and 2020. In 2014 I co-curated a solo exhibition, Graffiti Pataphysic, at Slought in Philadelphia.
Thanks to on-the-job training for a nonprofit client’s catalogue raisonné project, I am also proficient in using panOpticon database software.
I’ve been exhibiting abstract expressionist artwork since 1990 in Pennsylvania, New York, and in juried online shows. Series include paintings incorporating found handwriting; all those words, based on phrases from James Joyce’s Ulysses; and Frumpsville, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. My writing includes three full-length manuscripts: Graffiti Pataphysic, a memoir of finding my father’s artworks; Lexington, historical fiction from the point of view of a racehorse’s groom in the 1850s; and James, the imagined childhood diary of James VI and I (1566-1625).

Guest lectures
Moore College of Art (1988)
Franklin and Marshall College (1992)
University of Pennsylvania (2014)
Baruch College, State University of New York (panelist, 2019)

Volunteering
Philadelphia Avant-Garde Studies Consortium (PASC)
Steering Committee, 2016-present
United Way of Lancaster County
Communications Advisory Board, 1992-1996
Lancaster AIDS Project
Graphic design services, 1993-1996

Memberships
The Authors Guild, Inc.
Catalogue Raisonné Scholars Association

Education
Empire State College, SUNY: B.A. summa cum laude.
The Art Students League of New York: drawing and painting, with Peter Golfinopoulos, 2011-2013.

Seminars taught

"Writing Skills," two-day course delivered at Armstrong World Industries, 1990-1996
"Language of Leadership," one-day course developed with Joseph R. DiSanto, Employee Communications Director at Armstrong, 1992-1996

Selected seminars attended

"Employee Publications." Larry Ragan and Edmund Arnold, Ragan Communications
"Quality Management." Armstrong staff and Philip Crosby
"Advanced Writing and Interviewing." Tom Hunter
"Baldrige Criteria." Armstrong staff
"Advanced Writing & Editing." Peter Jacobi

ACCOLADES

"That was a great speech!"
--President Bill Clinton, 1986

"Grace under pressure--and she cracked the nut at The New York Times!"
--Marilyn Goodman, Director,
The Philadelphia Art Alliance

"A diamond in the mine."
--Andy Goldblatt, Sales Manager, WMMR-FM

"Emily has done the seemingly impossible by elevating her performance even beyond the rarefied level she achieved. I cannot apply enough glowing superlatives.... Suffice it to say she has been superb."
--Joseph DiSanto, Employee Communications Manager, Armstrong World Industries

"Outstanding communication and organizational skills...."
--William W. Adams, President & CEO, Armstrong World Industries