We recently connected with Emma Walker and have shared our conversation below.
Emma, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
The most meaningful project I’ve worked on to date was a piece showcasing my own interpretation of sexual violence and the everlasting affect it has. I orchestrated this piece for the Riverview Center Hope & Healing gallery in honor of sexual and domestic survivors. Although this nude photo series came from a place very close to my heart, it was the vulnerability of it that left me in a place of artistic expression I’d never known before.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I am a self-taught, multi-disciplinary artist born and raised in Eastern Iowa. Since 2012, I’ve owned and operated a freelance photography and graphic design business known as Emma’s Cellar Door. My range of mediums include outdoor/natural light photography, graphic design, web UI/UX design, and mixed media illustration.
Throughout my life I’ve experienced a multitude of great adventures and losses. I use art as a way to connect with and free myself from my corporeal form; while capturing and interpreting life’s raw moments including firsthand experience with endometriosis, PTSD, and sexual violence. I believe the artistry of self expression is directly linked to one’s sexuality, sensuality, trauma and pain. Each of these things are uniquely personal as well as uniquely beautiful which allows great depth for empathy and inspiration. But above all, I believe that art is a place where the soul goes to rejuvenate itself, and I hope to give others even just a taste of that to take back out into the world with them.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
A hard lesson I’ve had to unlearn was that there was such a thing as good and bad art. As a kid, encouragement in the arts was difficult to come by. Often met with ridicule, I began to feel not only that I wasn’t good enough as an artist, but that no one wanted to see what I could create. This left me feeling shame over my artwork, and disheartened at the thought that I wasn’t born with the talent therefore it was a futile passion to pursue.
After years of working with other artists and curating my own show, I was able to see just how purely human we all are in our efforts. There is no such thing as good vs. bad art, it simply just is.
I love to experiment with mediums, but not with the goal of being a better artist. I prefer to think of it as expanding my knowledge and skill, while allowing my inner child to come out and play on the canvas. If we get caught up the idea of, “but am I good enough?”, just think at what we’re shorting the world not to mention ourselves of. The Greats probably never knew how great they were in their lifetime, but imagine a world without their existence today.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Social media interaction with an artist’s profile is not only free, but so valuable to our growth. The more a page is interacted with (e. g. liked, shared, followed, etc.), the more our content embeds in the social media algorithm.
Shop local! Support starving artists by shopping for your holiday gifts from their collections of work. Instead of buying that mass overproduced print at Walmart, commission a local artist to create something truly unique for you.
Contact Info:
- Website: emmascellardoor.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emmascellardoor/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emmascellardoorart