We recently connected with Emily Cavender and have shared our conversation below.
Emily, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
Since I was a child, I always knew I wanted to be an artist, however, it wasn’t until I got to college that I started sharing my work with others. It was then, when I started selling my work, that I knew I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. When I would go to markets to vend, I would come across so many people moved by my artwork. It meant a lot to me, because they communicated that they felt shared emotions as my drawings and paintings. This gave me joy because my art has always been my way to vent and voice. When I hear that my viewers are getting the messages that they need from my work, it all makes sense to me that I’m on the right path.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Ominous Outlooks is a surreal brand made to reach others in the places that they are in life. It is my voice to others and myself. My work is mostly 2D, with drawings and paintings, however, I sometimes experiment with fibers work and other sculpture. I got started with my small business about a few months after I moved to Denton in 2018 and have been running ever since. What sets my work out from other artists is the ominous nature of my art. I like to leave my work, not set on one meaning, but open for interpretation. This allows the viewer to take what they need for themselves from the art. What I am most proud of in my practice is the way I have reached others emotionally. I have suffered a great deal of trauma in my life and I’m trying to share the lessons I have learned through my art. Throughout my childhood and adult life, my imagination has guided me through the valleys and mountains. I hope through my art, that it will lead my viewers to better places as well.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
Something that has always been a big obstacle in my art journey is societies’ idea that art has to be extremely realistic to be relevant. My art has always been on the expressive, imaginative side, and throughout art school and even residencies, I have felt limited, and even disheartened that my work wasn’t like everyone else’s. It took me a long time to accept my art for the way it was and to embrace that uniqueness. I later realized that my work was valuable in any way I made it. It wasn’t always about what it looked like, but the fact that I was making art from my heart and mind was important.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
When I first started my art instagram, I would hand out business cards at local music events, and do a lot of my networking there. I then started to do markets and other art events like that. I feel that I meet most of my followers in person, however, a good deal of them come from online too. I constantly use popular hashtags to get people to my art online. These tags relate closely to my artwork and to the audiences I want to reach. I have learned a lot of lessons on instagram as I had my art account recently hacked and had to create a new account from scratch. I am slowly regaining followers by using these techniques and keeping up with ig’s algorithm. My new instagram is @ominousoutlooks if anyone is interested in keeping up with my art online.
Contact Info:
- Website: ominousoutlooks.com
- Instagram: @ominousoutlooks
- Other: ominous outlooks on etsy
Image Credits
All photos taken by Emily Cavender of Ominous Outlooks