We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Emily Bartlett. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Emily below.

Hi Emily, thanks for joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

Risk – A catalyst of change;

I’ve taken many risks in my life, from drastic medical decisions that would alter the course of my life, to trusting people to have your best interest at heart, and choosing to invest in myself. Risks are the parameters that we find ourselves within whenever we are faced with a choice. With every choice that you make, there is and will always be associated risk. I think that within risk, we have to observe many other factors at play. Risk isn’t just some simple, walk in the park sort of a thing. To our brains it is life or death. And within life and death, as we can see in front of our eyes, things aren’t so simple.

The last big risk that I took in regards to my own career, business and livelihood was the choice to leave my old job, and come back home to move in with my parents and my partner, to be able to save enough money and have enough time to put towards starting my business. Now there was no guarantee in this choice that it would get me anywhere, and that’s the thing with risk, is its the things you don’t know. I could have lost a lot in that choice; my relationship, my relationship with my parents, my own mental health, I could have essentially lost everything in this choice, but that was a risk I was willing to take. I’m now on the other side of this decision, and me and my partner now have our own place again, and it was the first month that I got to see a pay out from my Etsy store, even if it was just a small amount, it still shows progress, and that’s all you can hope to see.

To take a risk involves a vision, trust, collaboration, and support. May that be with those around you, or solely within yourself.
When I took the risk of choosing to follow art as my career, there was risk in that even back in high school; I may not have perceived it entirely at that time. But I was choosing a whole path for my life. Of different experiences, of different characters, they were all crafted in that one moment of decision. There was a risk losing a lot, also. I may have gained a path, but within that choice, there were a lot of other doors that shut. So you have to dive head in, and accept all of those risks, and move through your choices with grace.

Now to really accept a chosen path and all associated risks, that isn’t easy, it takes a certain level of accountability and I have stumbled, many a time. Second guessing, wondering if it was worth it all. Hoping that I made the right designs throughout my time here. And that’s where the final key to the puzzle comes in which is faith. You have to have faith in your vision, and truly believe that what you are trying to accomplish is worth it. That’s a big thing to grapple with, and in the art world I would say that it is arguably even harder, and something that not a lot of people talk about.

Without risk, there is no reward as the old saying goes, so if you ever want to see what is at the end of all of your choices, be brave enough to take the risks that steer your ship in the direction that you want to go. I still am in the midst of my journey of risks, and rewards. Make calculated risks, but never be afraid to try something new or something that you have always dreamed of doing! Because you never know, what is at the end of those roads.

Emily, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Throughout my professional career, I have seen many different sides and applications of printing. From dye sublimation, too screen printing, direct to garment, large scale sign printing, vinyl applications, and everything in between. I think this has highly influenced how I approach my own craft. I have figured ways to take my small canon printer, and have it be a powerful tool to allow me to print my own graphics, and prints. Which to have all that knowledge from a large scale professional standard and be able to bring it down to my own scale was revolutionary for my mind. Living in the digital world that we do, I do a lot of digital painting, so to be able to even print my own prints, opened up so many mental doors.
I have now been producing a whole collection of jewelry. Now you guys remember shrinky dinks right? That thing from the late 90’s early 00’s? That is what my earrings are made out of. Now you may think, that that can’t be a high class item right? Well that’s where you are wrong. These earrings all have an other worldly quality that is rather ephemeral, and I want them to capture something of a nostalgic dream like quality. As well as just being fun, and expressive, and representative of different cultures, people, places, times and things. I want people to be able to represent a part of themselves, in a beautiful elegant way. May that be through the jewelry I make, the stickers, or the prints. Along with that thought, within my own personal paintings that I also offer to clients, I want to give them a space, that they can exist within, and explore their own inner spaces. But also express a certain aspect of themselves, because that’s what art is about. Expression.

I discovered what I really meant this year with my brand name, the name Sea of Mercury. It has a deeper meaning than you may have thought. We can all agree that we have a soul, body, and mind, correct? The soul, sulphur, the body, salt, and the mind, mercury. The Tria Prima, in alchemical knowledge. That is what our base alchemical configuration is, as humans. So we look at mercury, the mind, and when describing mercury, it is that which extracts the gold. It is the ideal of what it is to be human. We are that which is meant to extract the gold from the raw ore of the world. Any situation, challenge, or circumstance is an opportunity for the human spirit to extract gold and make it good. And with that I welcome you to the Sea of Mercury, the human mind is a strong force, and to bring and embody that voice, within the Sea of Mercury [Mind], where we all coexist among the same web.

I personally have extracted some gold from my own life through out this process and I want to share that same energy, and shine with others. Through all of my art, and my business, I want to communicate with my clients that they are capable, and amazing humans, that deserve the best in the world. I want to offer a reprieve from the fast paced consumption, with a hand wrapped, thought out personalized gift, just for them. May that be a handcrafted piece of jewelry, or a hand painted ornament. When I first started this all, I was just sending friends stickers in the mail. And I realized just how disconnected we really were in the digital era, and how fun even sending out a piece of mail was, and how I wanted the person on the other end receiving it to have a fun experience opening it. I know how much that means to me to receive. It’s different. I think that is one of the things that sets me apart is that, I wanted to be able to reach people in a different way than just another social media post, or another reel about me painting. I mean, that is fun also, but to truly be able to drop in, metaphorically, with a hey, hello, stay up, means a lot. I don’t personally know most of my clients, and I only get to talk to a select few when they message me about customs, but I make sure that every purchase is sent out with a thoughtful note, dedicated to that person, with all my gratitudes and best wishes. Along with being able to provide them with a beautiful piece of art, that will offer them a lot of joy.

The sheer persistence that has gone into making this journey possible is something that I am most proud of, no part of it has been truly easy, but if it were, the reward wouldn’t be as rewarding. All about that risk and reward!
I hope that the biggest take away from this about my brand is that through art you can communicate a lot, and through expression you can know one another, it’s about a deeper connection. It always has been, but somewhere that got lost in translation. I hope that my products bring people to connect deeper with one another, with each other, with themselves. Because we all owe it to ourselves and one another.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

For me there have been many many lessons in my life, but the most prominent one that pertains to my artistic career would be that of, “others”. Other humans, and all of their thoughts surrounding my own journey. May this be from peers, professors, parents. You really have to detach from most everything that anyone else things. That’s not to say don’t take any input from a critique, or don’t be open to change. But to go into this industry, you have to have a certain delusional faith in yourself, because if you let others sway you to intensely, you become very off balance in your own practice. Know your vision, and trust in it. I leaned very heavily on what others thought about my art, and crafted a lot of art to meet and appease other people in my life. I had to unlearn to look for their input, and unlearn to yearn for approval. I had to learn a whole new perspective of creation, which in turn change entirely how I understood the concept. So always stay connected to the reason, and the story within you of why you create.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

In my opinion, I think that society really should change the way that it perceives art. Art is in most everything, and if we want to have a healthy thriving ecosystem, we have to look at the small things that we do daily to bring beauty to our world. I’m imagining almost another renaissance, but with a futuristic approach of course. We have the capability to build beautiful things, beautiful architecture, beautiful landscapes, filled with unique solutions to unique problems. The human mind is truly boundless. So I think we first have to find that within ourselves, to desire to better, to think better, go outside the box, literally. And that would do a lot of good for society. Look to better your communities, you never know what could happen.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.seaofmercury.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seaofmercury/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SeaofMercuryy
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-bartlett-8a1417183/
• Twitter: https://x.com/SeaOfMercury_
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SeaofMercury
• Other: https://seaofmercury.etsy.com

Image Credits

Images @SeaofMercury