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October 22, 2024 18 mins

Wayne Jones talks to St. John's artist Emilee Hickey about her painting ▬

LINKS
Wicked Winds Art Studio (Instagram), https://www.instagram.com/wickedwindsartstudio

Wicked Winds Art Studio (Facebook), https://www.facebook.com/people/Wicked-Winds-Art-Studio/61550806900534/?mibextid=LQQJ4d

PAINTING
From the Heart, painting by Emilee Hickey, https://photos.app.goo.gl/h2Tjx7rQTZPLzrnd6

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Wayne (00:00):
Hi, I'm Wayne Jones.
Welcome to Newfoundland Boy, apodcast about me and the
Canadian province ofNewfoundland.
This is episode 29, "exturedand Abstract Painting, which
consists of an interview andconversation I had last week
with a young St John's artistnamed Emilee Hickey.
Hi, Emilee, thanks for comingon the podcast.

Emilee (00:24):
Hi, Wayne, thank you so much for having me.

Wayne (00:26):
We met, so to speak, on Instagram, because I'm not sure
how I came across you.
I was interested in artgalleries and things and
suddenly your name was there andI really liked a painting that
you had up there and ended upbuying it, and then I asked you
if you wanted to come on theshow.
So I wonder if you could startby, just for listeners, giving
them an idea of sort of the kindof painting that you do, but

(00:50):
also sort of where it fits inyour life, that sort of thing.

Emilee (00:54):
Yes, absolutely so.
Regarding the piece that youfrom myself myself, that was one
I'm calling it From the Heart.
That was just an idea.
I kind of took it and I hadsome palette knives and I was
just spreading acrylic paint andthen I was layering a gloss
over top of it because it feltright to me.
So initially, my art practicebegan through textured art, and

(01:18):
that's kind of what I like to do.
So I began by making art oncanvas out of plaster, a mixture
of plaster, gesso, Mod Podge.
As I became a little moreexperienced, I switched over to
modelling paste.
It holds up much better.
So that is primarily what Isell, but I also do some
abstract.
Abstract is challenging in thatit's very subjective.

(01:41):
So what I might find abstract,somebody else may look at and
say, That's a mess, or viceversa: I may hate a piece and
somebody else might love it.
So it's very interesting.
Art in general is subjective.
I do promote myself onInstagram.
I have a page, also a Facebookpage, and then you can find me
at markets as well.
So in your case, we connectedthrough Instagram and that's a

(02:04):
good sign to me because I'mgetting out there in some way.
So thank you so much forconnecting there.

Wayne (02:08):
Yeah, no, of course, I'm actually super interested in
abstract art, and that's howthat's what drew me there as
well.
You were sort of making adistinction there between not so
much the difference betweentextured art and abstract art,
but sort of, if if I'm readingit right, you're sort of doing
them for two different purposes,or or did I hear that wrong?

Emilee (02:31):
So I initially began by doing textured art.
Basically, where I launched mybusiness from is I had done a
ton of textured art, and how Igot into that was my friend and
I had been looking at it.
We saw it on TikTok, Instagramand said, Wow, that's really
cool, really fun, let's try it.
So we began in January of 2023,just kind of messing around
with some plaster on a couple ofcanvases and we liked it so

(02:54):
much I said, Gosh, I'm going tokeep doing this.
And so I did keep doing it.
And then I kind of tried myhand at abstract.
So how I started there was Idid a few free courses with the
Milan Institute.
I believe they're located inGeorgia.
I came across them on Instagrammyself and then I started going
with abstract.
So I'm not necessarily doingthem for two different purposes,

(03:17):
it's just I began with thetextured and then I really liked
abstract.
So now I just do a mixture ofboth.

Wayne (03:23):
Right.

Emilee (03:24):
The abstract, I normally don't have an idea for what
it's going to turn out like,whereas the textured I normally
have a goal when I begin.

Wayne (03:34):
Listeners could infer even from what you just said
already about textured art, butmaybe you could just say in a
little more detail about whatthat, what exactly that is.

Emilee (03:46):
Absolutely Textured art is generally, when I do it on a
canvas, it's not necessarily 3D,but it's raised off of the
canvas so it has a couple ofinches for depth.
I start, like I said, now withmodelling paste, so I might
cover an entire canvas of anysize in modelling paste.
Then I take a plaster trowel orany— that's what's really fun

(04:06):
to me, any kind of object thatwould give me a different
pattern, like I use hair clipsor I use back scratchers, spoons
, anything, to drag it throughthe paste to give it different
depth and then create differentpatterns with it.
So some are arches, some arerecords.
I shape them with a plastertrowel, like what you would use
to shape swirls on a ceiling.

(04:28):
I spin that in a full circleand I make vinyl record-like
pieces of art.
Those have been really wellwell received pieces of art Um.
Other ones that I've donelupines lupins, different
wildflowers.
So, just using palette knives,I fill it up modelling modeling
paste and then I put the pastedown on the canvas using the

(04:50):
paddle palette um to give it adifferent shape and I see what
comes out at the end.

Wayne (04:56):
hose textured include, uh , comprehend comprehend, do you
ever do this, this—l ike weretalking about sort of flowers
and back scratchers and thatsort of thing, like pieces of
things, kind of like sculpturein a way or not?
Is that not part of whattextured art is?

Emilee (05:13):
So for myself I haven't gotten into that, but there are
some really talented folks whoI've seen on the internet and
they include a ton of differentthings.
I've seen types that look likeglass, but I guess that's more
so resin, but of course thatdoes have dimension, on either a
wood palette or whatever thesurface that they're creating on
is.
Textured art, I guess, isanything that has kind of

(05:36):
dimension or depth to it.
But for me I just work so farwith modelling paste.

Wayne (05:51):
What I was really drawn to and when I looked at the
piece that I saw and looked atvarious pieces, but the one that
I ended up buying anyway wasthe super vibrant colors, and I
noticed comments on Instagram.
A lot of people say that, soI'm not telling you anything you
don't know, but that was reallystriking.
And also there's a kind of,with the piece that I have and

(06:13):
with many of them, I think, orsome others of them anyway,
there's a kind of symmetry aboutthem as well.
They're not sort of abstract inthe sense of at least some of
the ones I saw, swirly andthings like that and sort of all
over the place, and this corneris different from this corner.
There's a kind of symmetry alot of times.
Is that right?

(06:33):
Would you characterize it thatway?

Emilee (06:36):
I would definitely agree there.
There's something about linesfor me.
So for the piece that youpurchased from me in particular,
I was very taken up with linesor something that week, so I was
just drawing.
I don't know if you can includein the show notes maybe a
picture of that.

Wayne (06:51):
I will.

Emilee (06:53):
Thank you.
I was using trowels anddifferent- sized palette knives
for that one, and I mean on theedges they're rough, but I just
wanted a ton of differentvertical and horizontal lines
going across it.
So I wouldn't necessarily sayfor sure that all of my work
includes line work, but when itcomes to abstract, I think I've
definitely found my style inthat I start with some lines and

(07:16):
then sometimes I layer overdifferent shapes.
I just finished one this weekand I began the same process
that I did on your piece, usingdifferent size palette knives,
and then I just started doodlingover the top of it with
different coloured paints, andit was very vibrant.
that you commented on the color, colour I do tend to gravitate

(07:38):
towards vibrant colors.
Now, however, when I began,some of the first big pieces
that I made as commissions werefor my sister's hair salon.
I swore after that that I wouldnever do bright colors again
because it was so time-consuming.
Now that's just what I love todo.

Wayne (07:55):
That's funny how that is.
You never know how things go.
I wanted to ask you twoquestions, sort of stepping back
and a little more kind ofgeneral.
You mentioned that you were,you know, you started off doing
textured art and now you do bothtextured and abstract.
Maybe this is an impossiblequestion, but, like if you had

(08:16):
to put your finger on orspeculate about, like, why is it
that your head, your artistictalent, your aesthetic, went to
abstract, instead of, say, youknow, the ocean and
representational and that sortof thing?
Do you ever think about that?
Why you ended up like that, soto speak?

Emilee (08:33):
That's really funny.
I do, and I think a lot of itis that it's easier for me,
abstract is just, or textured ingeneral is just— I can kind of
put whatever I want on thecanvas and see what becomes of
it.
Whereas, say, if I were drawingor painting, I feel like maybe
the finer details matter and Idon't necessarily know if I have
those skills to harness thefiner details.

(08:56):
As a child I always drew.
Through high school I did drawand paint.
But to look into the details, Idon't necessarily know if I
have those mastered, so I'vekind of stuck to what pleases me
and what feels fun, whereas ifI were to focus on fine details
it does become frustrating.

Wayne (09:16):
Yeah, I hear what you're getting at there and sort of the
same kind of thing applies toall the arts.
That's what I've found.
I've interviewed writers and,you know, sculptors and
journalists and all sorts ofdifferent artists, playwright
playwrights, for example.
There's a certain theme in allof them, like the thing you're
saying.

(09:37):
You said something earlierabout, I'm not sure how it's
going to turn out.
A lot of people who maybe don'tpractice art would think, H ow
could that be?
How can you start something andnot know how it's going to turn
out?
They think that it has to be,you know, all mapped out and you
know exactly what the end pieceis going to be like.
But people write like that aswell, right?

(09:57):
People write novels like that,where they start with a line or
a word or an image and they haveno idea where it's going.
Now, you probably can't be likethat for the whole process, but
you don't need to knoweverything before you start.
So it's kind of encouraging inthat way.

Emilee (10:16):
One hundred percent.
I do find myself sometimesputting pressure to make it
perfect, but I really do likewhat you said In a lot of arts
folks don't know how it's goingto turn out and in some ways
that's comforting.

Wayne (10:26):
So do you have a lot of abstracts, of course, or other
abstracts, or from other artistsare, I don't know I'll just use
this term dark abstracts.
So there'll be very dark colorsand maybe, you know, blacks and
dark blues and a certain kindof violence or in the the way

(10:48):
it's all put together.
Has that kind of thing evercome across you or come out of
you, so to speak?

Emilee (10:55):
That is a really interesting question.
So I did have a commission backin I think it was April or May
and the client had asked forblack, purple, and white and I
did it, and I did it in my styleand I worked on it for months
and I think it was in July orAugust and I messaged them and I
said, You know what, I hatethis, I'm not proud of it, it's

(11:16):
not something I would want myname on.
So is there anything else thatI can do?
Or what do you think of thisone?
And they weren't honestly stuckon it, which I was happy to
hear because I really didn'twant it going out the door with
my name on it because I was notproud of it, and they actually
ended up ordering somethingcompletely different.
So it's a really interestingquestion.

(11:36):
I was really excited to do adark piece and it turned out
completely against my style.

Wayne (11:41):
But I'm curious about— I'm a writer, so I know that
what someone writes is notnecessarily what they believe in
or anything like that, infiction for sure, a lot of
people make that mistake.
A lot of people who assessfiction make that mistake.
Do you in your, your otherinterests, say in film, or you
know, just the things youconsume, not what you produce,

(12:04):
film or reading—d o you havedark interests there?
Do you see what I'm getting at?

Emilee (12:14):
Yeah, I mean, true crime , I am a consumer of it.
So that's a really interestingquestion.
I do listen to true crimepodcasts, I do watch the
documentaries, but then I dofind myself being very freaked
out afterwards.
So perhaps I create in vibrantcolors because I prefer the

(12:35):
sunny aspects of life, while noteverything is sunshine and
rainbows my art would reflect asthough it is.

Wayne (12:43):
You're rebalancing the universe with light and
brightness.
You know the thing— I almostalways, every Saturday, go down
to the Farmer's Market here.
We both live in St.
John's, Newfoundland, and youwere down there last weekend, I

(13:04):
think.
Is that right?

Emilee (13:04):
Correct.
Yes, yes, Thanksgiving weekendI was there.

Wayne (13:07):
One of the only weekends when I was either, I think, I
was either coming back fromCorner Brook or was busy with
other things.
And then I saw your picture onInstagram, and I thought a word
I can't say here.
I should have been there forthat.
How did it go?

Emilee (13:25):
No worries.
So that was actually an eventwith the Iceberg Gallery Network
and that is a nonprofit or afree network for artists.
Here in Newfoundland they doincredible things; they host
free events for artists likemyself, to put themselves out
there and get kind of foottraffic through to see their art

(13:46):
and that sort of thing.
But anyway, they had an event.
I think were 35 art vendors.
I had a lovely day.
I had the best day because Igot to meet other artists like
myself.
I got so many tips fromdifferent people just like, Hey,
have you tried using thismedium?
Oh, I bet it would be reallycool if you did things in this
style.
They told me how to get printsso that my texture would show up

(14:09):
, like the depth of my printswould show up, or the depth,
rather, of my texture would showup in prints.
It was just really lovely to besurrounded by like-minded
people, because sometimes I domarkets and it's, you know, a
ton of different vendors whoaren't all artists.
So this one in particular was areally great event for me
personally.

Wayne (14:27):
That's great.
Yeah, it's always good to be—well not always, but it can be
good to be surrounded by peoplein a certain way of like mind or
with the same kind ofinclination towards art as you
have.
Right, of course, that can begood.
Speaking of that, or just sortof expanding a bit out from that
, do you (I hate this term)— theart scene or the art community.

(14:50):
Do you, apart from the marketsthat you mentioned, are there
hangout sessions for artists orstudio groups where people go?
Do you know other artists intown that you hang out with and
stuff like that?
Or are you kind of independentand you do your markets and your
commissions and stuff like that?

Emilee (15:11):
So I'm pretty new overall to the art community.
I only launched my business inSeptember of 2023.
I joined the Iceberg GalleryNetwork sometime within 2024.
So still really, really new tothat group, but they're always
hosting events.
They have different exhibits.
So, for instance, they have onecoming up in November.
It's called Convergence andit's a one- week long exhibit

(15:36):
and there'll be pieces postedfor sale and exhibit and they're
also going to have live actionor demonstrations, that sort of
thing.
So other artists like myselfwill be hosting different
displays, different sessionsthat people can be hands-on
during, I believe.

(15:56):
I've yet to kind of really getinto that sort of thing, but I'm
trying to seek outopportunities as they present
themselves.

Wayne (16:06):
How much of your time do you spend on social media?
I'm only on Instagram, so Idon't know where, if you are
anywhere else.
Are you all over the placeeverywhere else.
You mentioned Facebook, whereyou kind of have your site,
basically, right?

Emilee (16:20):
So, yeah, I am only right now on Instagram and
Facebook and I actually kind oftried dial back back the
pressure that I was putting onmyself.
I found, say, back in thespring and early summer, I was
putting a lot of pressure onmyself to make, you know, X
amount of posts a week, filmeverything I was creating, and
then I found just that wasreally time- consuming with

(16:41):
editing and, you know, makingsure everything looked right.
It was a lot of pressure.
So I kind of tried to dial backmy social media presence.

Wayne (16:49):
Yeah, I hear you on that.
I mean, even apart fromanything to do with art, I mean
that's a very sane statement.
There's balance, right, youhave a life.
That's, in a way, the first,well, in a very real way, the
first priority.

Emilee (17:06):
Yeah, 100%.
I actually kind of, I guess,lost sight of, the bigger
picture, because for a while,when I first launched, I was
putting pressure on myself tocontinuously make new pieces and
share them on social media andgrow my following, and it just
kind of came to a point where Iwas exhausted, I was tired, I

(17:27):
was having health issues kind ofas a result.
So I really had to realizewhat's important.
This began as a hobby and I wasdoing it for fun and the only
reason I started selling ortrying to sell was my spare room
just no longer had capacity tohold my art.

Wayne (17:43):
You know it all starts with a trip down to Home Depot
to get some masking tape.
You're all in, right there.

Emilee (17:48):
That's it.

Wayne (17:49):
Emilee, thanks a lot.
This has been super nice andthanks for coming on.
I have your piece hung in mycondo here in the guest bedroom
so the guests get to see it.

Emilee (18:00):
Thank you so much for having me.
It was my pleasure.
And thank you again for yourpurchase.
It really means the world to me.

Wayne (18:06):
And that's all for this episode.
Thanks for listening and pleasejoin me again next Tuesday.
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