We were lucky to catch up with Emily Landham Mahoney recently and have shared our conversation below.
Emily, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?
I often wish I had started writing and drawing earlier. Hilariously, I did! I started in elementary school writing short stories and drawing graphite portraits. I even started a small business and had a few folks hire me to do portraits of their children. (Funny sidenote, since I was doing portraits in pencil, I called my business Shades of Gray. This was way before the book!)
Then in middle school, I was bit by the Theatre bug. I gave the next 20-25 years to the pursuit of acting. I was a professional actor and traveled from New York to DC and even filmed a movie in England. I went to NYU Tish and worked with some Tony award-winning artists. I built a lovely little career for myself. Funny thing, though, I never loved the lifestyle that came with it. It required a lot of travel, late nights, living three months in one city and three months and another. Also, I am an introvert. Acting is a very social life.
I’m grateful for my years as an actress. I think it taught me a great deal that helps me now as a writer and a visual artist. If I had a regret, I think I would sum it up like this… I wish that I had considered the lifestyle that comes with each individual art practice. Visual artists and authors get to spend a lot of time alone doing their work. Of course it’s social and requires travel too. But now that I’m approaching my 40s I wish I had considered lifestyle as well as art form. I likely would’ve picked writing sooner.
Then again, I’m one of those folks that thinks everything works out in the end. Mostly anyway. So even though I feel like I’m a little bit old to start my writing career or to dive back into the art career. I am grateful for the twists and turns of all the creative things I have tried. If you’re just starting out, the one thing I would suggest is to give a Good Long Think to the lifestyle you want. And observe curiously how the art practice you have chosen supports or challenges that.
(One last example, as much as I love to visit cities I don’t love living in them. I’m more of a country girl myself. Again, being a visual artist or a writer I can do that. If you’re an Actor, my experience is that you really do need to be up in it.)
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?
About five years ago, I retired from acting and started drawing and writing. So I’m in the very beginning stages of my career. I’m a full-time mom of two little kiddos both under the age of six.
I have personally chosen to only take on commissions as a visual artist that fill my cup. A lot of folks asked me to do landscapes and portraits. I let those folks know that I am exclusively a botanical artist. At least for now. I often let them know I’m not taking private commissions at all. I will simply say, please feel free to take a look at the things I have created and purchase whatever suits you fancy!
And regarding my novels, I write what I want to read. In short, I do what I like. If someone likes it, they will read it or buy it. Great!
Motherhood has put in perspective for me how short life is. How beautiful and quick and difficult and glorious and challenging and wild. When I became a mother, I stopped trying to write the next great American novel. I started to write it what is fun and enjoyable for me. As it turns out, at least for right now, that’s looking like suspenseful mystery novels! I also stopped taking private commissions on a regular basis. If I do take them on as a visual artist, I only take the ones that excite me.
So I suppose if there’s something I want my fans to know, I write what I wanna read and I draw what I wanna see. I’m tickled pink some of you like it too!
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
Choosing a new path is not giving up on another path. It was very hard for me to admit hello good morning oh thank you so much yes OK 00 OK great, thank you yes, that would be great. Those will be wonderful I wanted to be a writer rather than an actor. So many people talk about the number of actors that give up. Something like 98% of folks that were members of an acting union retire from acting. I personally disagree with the belief that 98% of those actors gave up. Sure, maybe a few. But if at any point in your creative life, you would like to jump from one art form to another.. or hell, leave the arts all together and become a doctor or a lawyer or a scientist. Go do it! That is not remotely giving up. That’s following the very human desire for change. I am not the same person I was in my 20s. 20-year-old me loved acting. 40-year-old me, loves writing and being a mom. I’m allowed to make that change and I’m allowed to refuse the voices that say that was giving up on something. (I think this is particularly difficult for artists that become parents, for some reason creative industries often look down on artists becoming parents. Don’t listen to that sh$&!)
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 was raised by teachers. My grandfathers were doctors. I grew up in a family where education was King. I think education is great. I also think you don’t always need to go take class every time you wanna do something. Most of my favorite artists were self-taught. Or, in the case of quite a few of my favorite artists, they dropped out of whatever school they were in.
This first time Arthur Miller wrote a play he didn’t know what an “Act” was. Picasso went against st everything he was taught in school. If you wanna try something new… don’t ask permission or look to others. DO IT!!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://emilylandham.com/
- Instagram: @emilylandham
- Other: https://m.imdb.com/name/nm4342325/
Image Credits
Cali Huber (Nashville TN). Nyk&Cali Photography.