We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Emily Alvarez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Emily thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.
From around five years old I decided I wanted to be an artist. My family and I had more practical aspirations for my future then, which mostly involved doing art on the side while pursuing a high-income career like being a surgeon, but we crossed that bridge when we got there. Risky career paths are not usually the ideal option for immigrant families who can’t afford to fail, but my mom always told me that she did what she had to, to make sure we could do what we wanted to. She put her whole being into helping my sister and I realize our dreams and trusted us to know how to get there; my path included taking a few art classes, attending an art magnet high school and later going to college for illustration. She woke up at 4:30 AM every day for four years to make sure I got on my bus to high school in downtown Miami at 5:30 AM safely. She looked for tutors when I almost failed math, drove me to college portfolio days and supported me when I moved halfway across the country at 18 to attend KCAI. Even when things got hard, when I failed or just wanted to give up I knew I didn’t have any option but to see things through or all of that work would have been for nothing. Now, regardless of how daunting a task or project may seem, a voice in the back of my mind tells me that it can and must be done; I’m sure some of that is my stubbornness, but part of it is my mom’s internalized voice and example showing me that we can make things work. Everyone needs someone to believe in them even when they don’t believe in themselves, and I’m so lucky to have had someone like that since the beginning.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am a second generation Latine artist originally from Miami, Florida. I was introduced to many of the genres of art making I employ now when I was working towards my BFA at the Kansas City Art institute; community murals, editorial work and so on. I consider myself an illustrator but do all kinds of art and design work as a freelance artist. Most of my biggest projects so far have been public art projects, of which I have completed thirteen in the Kansas City area. I also recently completed a painting on display in a group show at the Nelson-Atkins museum of art about my family. My clients for design work include the NAACP, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Raising Cane’s and Walmart and I’ve been interviewed by PBS several times for my work, career and my contribution to the landscape of murals.
My paintings and designs vary greatly in style and subject matter but I look for similar qualities from most of them; I want all of my work to have a saturated, stimulating, ecstatic feeling to it. Comics are a huge inspiration for me stylistically and I enjoy finding ways to inject perspective shifts, dynamic composition or interesting framing into my work.
I feel that as artists we must challenge ourselves in order to constantly improve, grow and change. Some of the questions I always ask myself is; how can I make something I haven’t seen before? What gaps in the landscape of art-making can I fill? And more importantly to me, how can I make this look as fun as I can? Gaps can look like a new approach compositionally, inclusivity where I haven’t seen it before, a color scheme that feels new to me or trying out materials I haven’t fully explored yet. In past projects I’ve made efforts to highlight issues and communities that I feel are underrepresented, such as women’s safety and immigrant communities making up our agriculture economy.
I have different priorities depending on the type of project I am taking on at the moment, but every piece is a challenge to make something better than I did last time; to try new methods and make my best possible art given the circumstances. When it comes to public art or design work, my clients appreciate that I hone in on what makes a location, audience or project unique; what can I include that would resonate with their specific audience? And how can I combine that with my sensibilities and tastes to produce something unexpected?
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
In 2020 I had just gotten my first full-time design job and my freelance career was, as it had been up until that point, my side gig I would make time for if a big project or mural was coming up. I was inevitably laid off, like hundreds of others within that company and my whole perspective on how my career as an artist would pan out completely changed. The formula countless artists had followed before me, of obtaining a stable art-adjacent job while taking on more freelance work until you could support yourself, had crumbled for me. In a post-COVID economy, I no longer had any faith that I was anything but disposable and self-employment seemed like my only option. I can’t say I was ready to put everything I had into pursuing my career as an artist full time. A few years later I have had a few disappointments but above all, accomplishments I hadn’t anticipated in the least. It has been incredibly challenging but I have learned some invaluable lessons in this tumultuous time, and am learning new things about myself and my career all the time; the importance of investing in friendships and asking friends for help, learning the limits of one’s time management and problem-solving skills, learning to draw boundaries between your life and career, the importance of planning ahead, and developing the necessary patience and resilience to accept rejection and have faith that things will work out in time if you keep working hard and connecting with the people around you.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I have typically struggled to create paintings for or about myself for as long as I can remember. At my classes in an art magnet high school, we began learning about making art with intention; from then till I began taking art classes in the Illustration department my sophomore year of college, I was taught by some narrow-minded fine artists that art must be conceptual rather than beautiful, and that my concepts were weak. I fell victim to overthinking, insecurity and the myth that modern art must be intellectual or it doesn’t deserve to exist. I had a bit of a breakthrough in that respect this year. I joined an artist collective of other Hispanic artists called MASA and finally felt understood. Many of us experienced insecurity in feeling justified to pursue our interests as individuals through art; we had all at some point experienced some sort of environmental or direct pressure to make art for the sake of the audience rather than ourselves. In this case, the majority expressed frustration that while many white contemporary artists felt free and confident to produce art exploring any concept they saw fit, we as Hispanic artists felt compelled by institutions to make work that is or could be interpreted about being Hispanic so as to participate in the contemporary art world. We wished to have the same freedom from predisposition that our white counterparts enjoy, and decided to make a space specifically to enjoy that freedom.
The myth that there is any right way to make art, especially contemporary art, has finally begun releasing its grip on me. Art doesn’t even need to be good to deserve to exist. We can create whatever we want! I feel confident enough to move forward with this knowledge and trust myself as an artist. Some of that is owed to my simply growing and maturing as a person, some to experience easing anxiety about participating in something unfamiliar, and largely it is owed to discovering the comfort and support of community.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://emilyalvarez.art
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emily.alvarez.art
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/emily-alvarez-592694147
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/emilyalvarezart
- Other: Tumblr: https://emilyalvarezart.tumblr.com/ Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@emily.alvarez.art?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc