Emma Fick describes her work as “an uneasy balance between the foreign and the familiar.” That tension fuels a body of art inspired by Louisiana flora, Byzantine iconography, and creative travelog wanderings between.
Though she always enjoyed making art, Fick imagined she would follow in her parents’ footsteps to become a professor of literature. A Fulbright scholarship sent her to teach English in the Balkans, where she began illustrating and painting “as a way to pass the time.” Fick published her first book of illustrations in Serbia in 2015 then returned to the U.S., where she released “Snippets of New Orleans” and continued developing “cultural illustrations,” (as she calls her distinctive blend of word and image).
Fick credits “curiosity and observation about small details” for her approach as well as a background in literature, particularly early modern Renaissance works. In this era, words and images were typically interwoven with what Fick calls, “a kind of one-to-one symbolism, so paintings can be read like text, which is the same in most of my work.”
Her other illustrated works highlight subjects near and far, from a guide to the Trans-Siberian railway to an in-progress book about Louisiana native plants and their medicinal use in Acadiana.
Fick enjoys exploring new forms and materials, most recently plastic, which she used to create an installation for a Tulane library space (“kind of a modern stained glass”) as well as jewelry. “[Plastic] is a ‘low’ form, and I like elevating it,” she explains. “For stained glass, I like the idea that it’s this ancient technique that’s in churches and [associated] with wealth and expense, but I did it in plastic lit with LED lights.”
Fick continues to find new applications for her creativity. She’s working with local design store Spruce on a collection of wallpaper featuring native Louisiana plants and is also creating paintings and jewelry for the Louisiana Marketplace at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
That variety keeps her energized. As Fick says, “I hope in two years I’m working in a completely different medium that I can’t even see right now.”
Contact
emmafick.com, @emma_fick_art
