Art & Life with Emma Leight

Today we’d like to introduce you to Emma Leight.

Emma, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I was always a pretty ‘artsy’ kid. I attended a K-8 Catholic school in San Francisco, which offered little in the way of art classes, so my parents quickly put me in painting classes nearby. Around 7th grade, my father became good friends with a local painter and muralist, Thomasina DeMaio, who eventually became my mentor. She helped me prepare a 15 piece portfolio which I submitted to San Francisco’s School of the Arts – a too-good-to-be-true public arts high school, and with her guidance, I was accepted. I spent the next four years stumbling through my morning academics, getting high at lunch, then floating into figure drawing, painting, film photography, and sculpture classes in the afternoon. It was the best environment for a young person to experiment artistically and not feel like the ‘weird kid’ because everyone was the Weird Kid.

After my time at SOTA, I seemed to burn out creatively. I basically lost interest in making art. I focused on work in the service industry and was obsessed with the idea of supporting myself at a young age. It wasn’t until I moved to Los Angeles in 2013, at the age of 23, that I got back into drawing. I went through a rather deep bout of depression for most of that year and decided to start seeing a therapist. She suggested that I take a stroll up the street to the local art store and pick up a sketchbook, to doodle in absentmindedly. It might make me feel better, or at least distracted. Thinking she would be totally wrong, but also feeling desperate and out of ideas, I went to that art store in Studio City. I got a 4×6″ Bee Paper Co sketchbook and a few Microns, the materials I still use, and I was hooked.

Can you give our readers some background on your art?
All of my art is sketched out in pencil, outlined in Micron pens and filled in with stippling and the occasional pop of color. It is also quite small, never really reaching past 4″ or so,

These days my art is heavily inspired by my experiences with street harassment and physical assault, This is a major part of what contributed to my aforementioned depression, and the helplessness, anxiety, and paranoia that accompanied it. Majority of my subject matter depicts whimsical avian critters ripping out the eyes of the individuals around them. Sometimes the eyes are ingested, sometimes they are shared with other birds, and sometimes they give birth to the eyes they ingest. I came up with this concept after countless encounters with strange men who would harass me, touch me, or even just give me a knowing up-and-down glance, which somehow feels more invasive than words. Because of this, I began to imagine the hilarity of grimy Los Angeles pigeons swooping down and gouging out the eyes of my harassers, like a modern-day Disney princess.

Before I came up with this imagery and concept, I used a lot of symmetrical vaginal motifs to express my frustration, since I identify as a woman. After hearing several stories of harassment from male and non-binary friends and acquaintances, I felt it was important to create imagery that everyone could relate to. Also, the idea of birds ripping out eyeballs is pretty amusing to me. Why not?

In your view, what is the biggest issue artists have to deal with?
Social media, namely Instagram, seems to be a gift and a curse for so many artists. We live in an era where instant popularity and success via social media appears to be totally attainable and sometimes expected, and when someone can’t achieve that, they feel like a failure. As much as I use social media as my main outlet to advertise my work, I know it’s not the last stop. You need to put yourself out there, in person, and shake hands with your people. Get to know your fellow artists and your community beyond your phone. They’re hustling and struggling just like you, and they’re probably really badass people to have on your side.

What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
I try to participate in one art show and/or street fair once a month, which is quite easy to achieve in the bountiful and ever-growing Los Angeles art community. I post very regularly to my Instagram, @artbyeemar, to let people know when and where I will be showing or tabling next. For the month of July, I will be vending at the Block Party section of the Mar Vista Art Walk, as well as showing a hand illustrated skate deck at Garage Gallery in downtown LA. I also have an Etsy, Art by Eemar, for anyone who is interested in purchasing something who can’t make it to a street fair.

Contact Info:

• Phone: 4155170348
• Email: artbyeemar@gmail.com
• Instagram: @artbyeemar
• Other: Etsy.com/shop/ArtByEemar

Image Credit:
Headshot – Dominic Polito
Illustrations – Emma Leight

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