Meet Michele Emmons

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Michele Emmons a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Michele, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

Resilience has been at the heart of every chapter of my career. Starting out, I had to fight for every opportunity — whether it was teaching myself new tools, pitching to big clients, or starting my own agency from scratch.

Building Crosland + Emmons sculptural lighting was a leap into the unknown. We spent years in the studio experimenting, refining, and figuring out how to translate sculptural ideas into functional lighting. There were many moments of doubt — wondering if the pieces were good enough, if designers would respond. But we kept going, and that persistence paid off.

Now, as I pivot into painting full-time, I’m again starting from the ground up. It’s humbling to begin again — to build a new audience, define a new brand, and trust that the work will resonate. You have to keep showing up, stay open to new opportunities, and believe in what you’re building — even when it’s slow.

The truth is, you can’t measure success by followers or likes. It’s about staying the course, making work you believe in, and letting the rest unfold. Each chapter of my journey has required resilience, reinvention, and risk — but those are also the things that have fueled my growth as an artist.

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?

I believe art has the power to transform spaces — not just visually, but emotionally. My mission is to create work that helps people feel something in their environment. Design taught me how to solve problems with purpose, but painting allows me to explore the unknown. My goal is to merge those two worlds — structure and freedom — to create art that feels both grounded and expansive.

Each piece begins as a visual story. Layers of color, texture, and embedded objects — antique letters, stamps, tags, old photos — create tactile, dimensional canvases that act as a kind of visual archive. Negative space and typographic elements invite close inspection and personal interpretation. I want viewers to discover a new “hidden” area each time they engage with the work — a small moment of connection waiting to be unearthed.

I work across both large and small canvases, but what truly sets me apart is the way I weave graphic sensibilities and nostalgic fragments together. This blend of contemporary abstraction and found ephemera creates something that feels both sculptural and intimate.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Looking back, the three most impactful qualities in my journey have been creative fluency, a passion-driven mindset, and resilience.

Creative fluency came from years of working in typography, print, and design. Those foundations shaped how I see and build things, and today they naturally spill onto the canvas. That blend of skills has allowed me to approach my art with a fresh perspective, pulling from everything I’ve learned rather than starting from scratch.

The second is a deep connection to my passions. Leaning into what genuinely inspires me, whether it’s design, color, or storytelling, has always guided my next step. I’ve learned that when you stay close to what you love, your path feels clearer and your work becomes more meaningful.

And finally, resilience. You have to stay positive and driven, even when something feels unfamiliar or intimidating. There were many moments when I didn’t know exactly how to tackle a challenge, but choosing to embrace it and try anyway always moved me forward.

For those early in their journey, my advice is simple: keep learning, follow the work that excites you, and don’t be afraid to step into the unknown. Build on your passions, stay curious, and trust that persistence, more than perfection, will lead you where you’re meant to go.

If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?

If I knew I only had a decade left, I would spend it fully immersed in creating. I would paint all day, every day without interruption, without the pressure of deadlines, and without the constant pull of the business side. Just pure exploration, expression, and joy in the process.

I’d travel as much as possible. Experiencing new places, people, cultures, and landscapes always changes the way I see the world, and I’d want to bring that energy back into my work. Every trip would become part of the story on my canvas through colors, textures, memories, and emotions woven together.

Most of all, I’d focus on building a body of work that outlives me. Something honest and deeply personal, something that creates emotional connections for the people who experience it. I’d hope those pieces could spark a feeling, a memory, or a moment of reflection long after I’m gone. That, to me, would be the most meaningful legacy I could leave behind.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://medesignworks.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/me_abstractstudio/

Image Credits

Michele Emmons