Emily is a self-taught collage artist from Minneapolis, MN. Her detailed and textured original artwork is created using recycled books and magazines.
Emily is a self-taught collage artist from Minneapolis, MN. Her detailed and textured original artwork is created using recycled books and magazines.
Emily is a self-taught collage artist residing in Minneapolis, MN. Her high-density collage style begins with a hand drawn sketch covered by layers of paper from recycled magazines, thrift store children’s books, and found objects. Each original is uniquely three-dimensional and takes anywhere from 200 to 500 hours to complete. Along with paper Emily uses beads, stickers, string, gems, and anything else found buried in her craft bin created by over ten years of scrapbooking and card-making.
While Emily showed artistic skills at a young age and studied a range of mediums through high school and college, she graduated in 2007 with a degree in communications from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She spent four years in the travel industry and three with non-profits while spending her evenings making collaged greeting cards. In 2014- while working as an Employment Consultant helping adults with disabilities find gainful employment- Emily realized that while she was helping others follow their passions, she wasn’t yet following her own.
In 2015 EmLavArt was launched and the 4x6 collages turned into 12x18’s and then 20x24’s. Her work was professionally framed to emphasize the dimensional aspects which made each piece look all the more unique. Emily shared her work in taprooms and coffee shops, being invited to her first outdoor show in 2016. Since then Emily has shown in art fairs and festivals across four states, has an active website and Facebook page, and is creating new originals every month- her largest one to date being over four feet across and taking over 500 hours of work.
Emily continues to work full time for Hammer Residences, a group home provider in Wayzata, MN and hopes to one day use EmLavArt to draw attention to the disability field and the areas of improvement it so badly needs. Until then, Emily creates easily accessible art that asks the viewer to stop and look at the details.
