Emily had this to share about her biggest influence in art.

I don’t think I could really pick just one person who has had a large impact on me as an artist. One big one is definitely Norman Rockwell. While I’ve started to move away from realism, I love that each of his paintings tells a story through all the minor details in the background. He was able to capture the meaning of mundane activities. Another artist that has really inspired me recently has been Henry de Toulouse Lautrec. His life was far from perfect, but he used artwork as a form of expressing his deepest desires. He painted beautiful works of couples in love yet he himself never felt that type of affection. This expression through art is something that has really inspired me to create work that has a powerful meaning and evokes strong emotions. My other two influences are more based on their style of painting and their use of color. I’ve always loved Vincent Van Gogh’s work as well as Claude Monet, they have always brought me a sense of peace and I’ve tried to incorporate that use of color into my own work. Why is art class/art education important? Art education is extremely important because it not only can spark a passion in young students, but it can also be a form of therapy for some people. For me, my love of art started in elementary school, I loved learning about the history of different artists as well as experimenting with different mediums in each lesson. Exposing children to different art forms can help them develop a passion that they can follow through middle and high school and maybe even use to pursue a career in art. Art has also been known to be relaxing and has even been used in certain forms of therapy. Having an art class during the day is a great stress reliever and a break from any academic classes. Not only can art have a personal impact on someone, but it can be culturally and historically significant. In my English and History classes, they always bring up artwork that had a major impact during a certain time period. Whether it be a poster, comic strip, or a painting in a museum art surrounds us and continues to have significance in our society. Art is related to everything around us which is why art education is so important. What advice would you give to other artists? If there is any advice I could give is to not be afraid to get messy. Experiment with your interests and mediums and if it doesn’t go how you thought that doesn’t mean it’s bad and you should give up on it. Rather it is the perfect opportunity to try something new, and you never know, maybe you’ll end up actually enjoying it."