Meet Emeline

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Emeline. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Emeline below.

Hi Emeline, thank you for being such a positive, uplifting person. We’ve noticed that so many of the successful folks we’ve had the good fortune of connecting with have high levels of optimism and so we’d love to hear about your optimism and where you think it comes from.

I have dealt with a lot of trauma and pain throughout my life so you may think how can you possibly be optimistic? For over twenty years I have used my art as a means to deal with my troubles. It is my therapy. My artwork is filled with joy and happiness and I use positive words in my text based art. So my optimism comes from within, as I have a need to feel better. It’s as if I am listening to my body to create art to make me and anyone else that connects with it happy too.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

Being an artist is something I can not hide from. It is something I have to do. From a young age I have been creative. I won my first art competition when I was 7yrs old. After art school I went to fashion college and ended up working in the fashion industry in London. However I had a need to make art for myself. So I made art and started doing pop up art shows in London.

I first came to California 20yrs ago. At first I was able to concentrate on my art full time. Then life moved me to Canada and I started to dabble in digital artwork. This was when I started licensing my artwork to different companies as well as using companies like Society6 and Threadless. I was actually one of the first artists that started licensing my art with the phone case company Casetify.

Today I have two galleries I work with, one here in Palm Springs and another right on the beach at Laguna Beach. I also sell my physical artwork on my own online shop and on Saatchi Art.

I love the idea of doing Public Art as you are sharing art to people that would not normally be with art. You can see some of my public art works in Palm Springs. I have a bench outside Trina Turk, Electric boxes near The Saguraro Hotel and next month I am painting a new bench in a local park.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

There are so many qualities, but if I have to pick three I think I’m good at being a trendsetter, being authentic and good at networking.

I have never been a follower of trends. Even at school I always wanted to be different regarding what I wore even though we had a school uniform. When I was at fashion college my peers loved my idea sketch books. They even said I should have been a trend forecaster, and I probably could have been pretty good at that. However what I have seen over the years is that my artwork and designs are very timeless as if they are on trend always. I’ve even been copied badly which was a painful experience. My art pieces are almost like a modern classic. For example I showed some old work at the gallery last week that had never been seen before. People were very shocked to hear that I had created them twenty years ago because they looked very fresh. Some even thought they were brand new.

You can not be a true artist without being yourself. So it’s important to be authentic. What you see is what you get with me. Life seems to influence my artwork in more ways than one. Including the colors that I use. I’ve noticed over the last twenty years a blue period when I first moved to California which were inspired by the blue skies. Ten years ago I did a series of black and white prints subconsciously when my baby girl passed away. I only realized I did this years after. When I moved back to Palm Springs from Canada I did a series of white artwork as if starting afresh.

Networking is a very important skill if you are an artist. I am very fortunate to be part of a huge artist community here in the Coachella Valley. Once a month we get together and hang out at an artist studio and talk about different subjects that might help each other. Some may think it’s a waste of time, but I think it’s fun to be able to do this. Even when I lived in London over twenty years ago I’d force myself to go to art openings and push myself to talk to other people. I remember a fun art opening I went to for a Guy Richie Movie. Even actors from the movie were there looking at the photos that were taken during when the movie was being made. Being in that situation can be daunting. But I’ve found that it’s important to be yourself and have fun. It’s easier these days to network thanks to the internet. However being in person is much better. Recently I’ve pushed myself and even driven out of my way to connect with art connections.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

I am always looking for fellow artists to collaborate with me. It is so much fun if you can collaborate. Over twenty years ago I worked with my sister and we were known as the “Tate Sisters” when we showed our collaborative artwork together in London. Since then I have been able to collaborate with several people. It can be fun to make something and have someone embellish your art. I’ve had one artist bedazzle my artwork with crystals and another with handmade acrylic flowers. I’m currently playing with my digital lettering and my friends floral prints. So if you have an idea to blend my 3D letter artwork or my digital prints, please reach out to me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.emelinetate.com
• Instagram: @emeline_tate