Sunday, October 5, 2014

Ema in Life & Leisure Magazine May/June 2014


Studying media arts and graphic design helped to define a path for this young artist and now she's shaping her own future.
Words Cheree Phillips Photos Jane Ussher Issue 55







In Japanese culture, a doll called a Daruma is given to motivate goal setting and perseverance, yet it has no eyes. It is for the recipient to add them. "You hold the Daruma in one hand and visualize your goal, then apply one eye. Once you have reached your goal, you add the other one. For artist Ema Frost the dolls are reminders of the tasks she has on the go. She keeps only a couple, which is just as well; if there were one for every goal she's ticked off there wouldn't be a Daruma-free space in her Auckland studio.

The farm in Kaukapakapa where Ema grew up is a long way from Tokyo. "When I was a kid I discovered that you don't choose art, art chooses you." She toyed with the prospect of art as a career but fitness offered more stability and Ema focused on obtaining a diploma in personal training. The pull of the big OE was strong and she left New Zealand in 2004 to spend two years working at odd jobs throughout California, Brazil, Morocco and England. "I spent a lot of time in the United States and discovered so many new products. It was easy to be creative when I was removed from my normal surroundings. I know I had to pursue art again."

Overseas art schools were expensive so in mid-2006 Ema returned to Auckland and enrolled in a one-year Diploma of Graphic Design at Natcoll Design & Technology (now known as Yoobee School of Design). "The diploma helped me to find the right medium but for most things I'm self taught. I get an idea in my head and find a way of creating it."

Since graduation, Ema has tried her hand at ceramics, jewellery, prints children's books and figurines, often being told that the way she wanted to do things was not possible. "But I've learned not to listen when people say you can't do something."

The creation of her first prints in 2009 let to a commercial breakthrough. "I started with four core prints and I've kept adding to them. The drawings come from a made-up land in my head. The figures are based on both Maori and Japanese mythology; a lot of the myths and legends from the two cultures are quite similar." Ema's first retails opportunity came through a friend who introduced her to a Newmarket gallery. "Now I am stocked in six galleries and they are my main source of income."

Her newest venture takes on the toughest of all art critics by making her characters stars of a series of children's books. The hero is a little warrior boy searching for his princess. In a melding of Maori and Japanese culture, Ema has developed her own Daruma called Kaikaro, meaning goalkeeper. "He looks like a chubby tiki and appears when the warrior boy becomes distracted. It's my dream to take him into schools where I could help students make paper-mache versions of him to focus their goal setting. I've even made little motivational badges with Kaikaro's face on them."

For Ema. being an artist involves much more than just sitting down and creating. "Marketing and PR are becoming more and more important - it's not just art any more. The hardest thing is getting it out there and still being creative. You have to have more than just a print these days. I love the idea of being on everything and anything: merchandise, furniture, fashion."

Ema may need to head back to Japan to pick up more Daruma dolls to cope with her multiplying goals. She's showcasing her work in the Air New Zealand Koru Lounge at Auckland International Airport, has several exhibitions lined up for 2014 and works as a personal trainer every morning. The Daruma has its eyes set on her artistic career and is blind to her love of surfing and her social life. "Art is in me, not matter what. I would hate not to do this. It's my therapy; I get lost in my work"

www.emafrost.co.nz


Ema on
Overcoming rejection: "When I get turned down I don't dwell on it, I just move on. The work is never going to be to everyone's liking so I don't try."

Sticking to a style: "Believe in yourself and keep doing what you love doing. You want to be able to have 10 of your works hidden within 100 others and have someone pick out all 10 of yours."

Being on show: "Having exhibitions means having deadlines and that keeps you focused. You need deadlines. Exhibitions tend to lead into new people and new things too."

Bird watching: "There is always a hummingbird in my prints; it's become like my trademark. When I look back at works from when I was studying, hummingbirds often popped up."

Family thoughts: "I'm very lucky to have parents who have always believed in anything I have wanted to do. I have always been surrounded by positive people. It's hard when you're not in that environment."




In Japanese culture, a doll called a Daruma is given to motivate goal setting and perseverance, yet it has no eyes. It is for the recipient to add them. “You hold the Daruma in one hand and visualize your goal, then apply one eye. Once you have reached your goal, you add the other one.” For artist Ema Frost the dolls are reminders of the tasks she has on the go. She keeps only a couple, which is just as well; if there were one for every goal she’s ticked off there wouldn’t be a Daruma-free space in her Auckland studio.
The farm in Kaukapakapa where Ema grew up is a long way from Tokyo. “When I was a kid I discovered that you don’t choose art, art chooses you.” She toyed with the prospect of art as a career but fitness offered more stability and Ema focused on obtaining a diploma in personal training. The pull of the big OE was strong and she left New Zealand in 2004 to spend two years working at odd jobs throughout California, Brazil, Morocco and England. “I spent a lot of time in the United States and discovered so many new products. It was easy to be creative when I was removed from my normal surroundings. I knew I had to pursue art again.”
Overseas art schools were expensive so in mid-2006 Ema returned to Auckland and enrolled in a one-year Diploma of Graphic Design at Natcoll Design & Technology (now known as Yoobee School of Design). “The diploma helped me to find the right medium but for most things I’m self taught. I get an idea in my head and find a way of creating it.”
Since graduating, Ema has tried her hand at ceramics, jewellery, prints, children’s books and figurines, often being told that the way she wanted to do things was not possible. “But I’ve learned not to listen when people say you can’t do something.”
The creation of her first prints in 2009 led to a commercial breakthrough. “I started with four core prints and I’ve kept adding to them. The drawings come from a made-up land in my head. The figures are based on both Maori and Japanese mythology; a lot of the myths and legends from the two cultures are quite similar.” Ema’s first retail opportunity came through a friend who introduced her to a Newmarket gallery. “Now I am stocked in six galleries and they are my main source of inco
- See more at: http://nzlifeandleisure.co.nz/ema-frost-auckland-artist-in-action/#sthash.NknWoGWh.dpuf

In Japanese culture, a doll called a Daruma is given to motivate goal setting and perseverance, yet it has no eyes. It is for the recipient to add them. “You hold the Daruma in one hand and visualize your goal, then apply one eye. Once you have reached your goal, you add the other one.” For artist Ema Frost the dolls are reminders of the tasks she has on the go. She keeps only a couple, which is just as well; if there were one for every goal she’s ticked off there wouldn’t be a Daruma-free space in her Auckland studio.
The farm in Kaukapakapa where Ema grew up is a long way from Tokyo. “When I was a kid I discovered that you don’t choose art, art chooses you.” She toyed with the prospect of art as a career but fitness offered more stability and Ema focused on obtaining a diploma in personal training. The pull of the big OE was strong and she left New Zealand in 2004 to spend two years working at odd jobs throughout California, Brazil, Morocco and England. “I spent a lot of time in the United States and discovered so many new products. It was easy to be creative when I was removed from my normal surroundings. I knew I had to pursue art again.”
Overseas art schools were expensive so in mid-2006 Ema returned to Auckland and enrolled in a one-year Diploma of Graphic Design at Natcoll Design & Technology (now known as Yoobee School of Design). “The diploma helped me to find the right medium but for most things I’m self taught. I get an idea in my head and find a way of creating it.”
Since graduating, Ema has tried her hand at ceramics, jewellery, prints, children’s books and figurines, often being told that the way she wanted to do things was not possible. “But I’ve learned not to listen when people say you can’t do something.”
The creation of her first prints in 2009 led to a commercial breakthrough. “I started with four core prints and I’ve kept adding to them. The drawings come from a made-up land in my head. The figures are based on both Maori and Japanese mythology; a lot of the myths and legends from the two cultures are quite similar.” Ema’s first retail opportunity came through a friend who introduced her to a Newmarket gallery. “Now I am stocked in six galleries and they are my main source of inco
- See more at: http://nzlifeandleisure.co.nz/ema-frost-auckland-artist-in-action/#sthash.NknWoGWh.dpuf
In Japanese culture, a doll called a Daruma is given to motivate goal setting and perseverance, yet it has no eyes. It is for the recipient to add them. “You hold the Daruma in one hand and visualize your goal, then apply one eye. Once you have reached your goal, you add the other one.” For artist Ema Frost the dolls are reminders of the tasks she has on the go. She keeps only a couple, which is just as well; if there were one for every goal she’s ticked off there wouldn’t be a Daruma-free space in her Auckland studio.
The farm in Kaukapakapa where Ema grew up is a long way from Tokyo. “When I was a kid I discovered that you don’t choose art, art chooses you.” She toyed with the prospect of art as a career but fitness offered more stability and Ema focused on obtaining a diploma in personal training. The pull of the big OE was strong and she left New Zealand in 2004 to spend two years working at odd jobs throughout California, Brazil, Morocco and England. “I spent a lot of time in the United States and discovered so many new products. It was easy to be creative when I was removed from my normal surroundings. I knew I had to pursue art again.”
Overseas art schools were expensive so in mid-2006 Ema returned to Auckland and enrolled in a one-year Diploma of Graphic Design at Natcoll Design & Technology (now known as Yoobee School of Design). “The diploma helped me to find the right medium but for most things I’m self taught. I get an idea in my head and find a way of creating it.”
Since graduating, Ema has tried her hand at ceramics, jewellery, prints, children’s books and figurines, often being told that the way she wanted to do things was not possible. “But I’ve learned not to listen when people say you can’t do something.”
The creation of her first prints in 2009 led to a commercial breakthrough. “I started with four core prints and I’ve kept adding to them. The drawings come from a made-up land in my head. The figures are based on both Maori and Japanese mythology; a lot of the myths and legends from the two cultures are quite similar.” Ema’s first retail opportunity came through a friend who introduced her to a Newmarket gallery. “Now I am stocked in six galleries and they are my main source of income.”
Her newest venture takes on the toughest of all art critics by making her characters stars of a series of children’s books. The hero is a little warrior boy searching for his princess. In a melding of Maori and Japanese culture, Ema has developed her own Daruma called Kaikaro, meaning goalkeeper. “He looks like a chubby tiki and appears when the warrior boy becomes distracted. It’s my dream to take him into schools where I could help students make papier-mâché versions of him to focus their goal setting. I’ve even made little motivational badges with Kaikaro’s face on them.”
For Ema, being an artist involves much more than just sitting down and creating. “Marketing and PR are becoming more and more important – it’s not just art any more. The hardest thing is getting it out there and still being creative. You have to have more than just a print these days. I love the idea of being on everything and anything: merchandise, furniture, fashion.”
Ema may need to head back to Japan to pick up more Daruma dolls to cope with her multiplying goals. She’s showcasing her work in the Air New Zealand Koru Lounge at Auckland International Airport, has several exhibitions lined up for 2014 and works as a personal trainer for five hours every morning. The Daruma has its eyes set on her artistic career and is blind to her love of surfing and her social life. “Art is in me, no matter what.I would hate not to do this. It’s my therapy; I get lost in my work.”
- See more at: http://nzlifeandleisure.co.nz/ema-frost-auckland-artist-in-action/#sthash.F4qpMFKB.dpuf
In Japanese culture, a doll called a Daruma is given to motivate goal setting and perseverance, yet it has no eyes. It is for the recipient to add them. “You hold the Daruma in one hand and visualize your goal, then apply one eye. Once you have reached your goal, you add the other one.” For artist Ema Frost the dolls are reminders of the tasks she has on the go. She keeps only a couple, which is just as well; if there were one for every goal she’s ticked off there wouldn’t be a Daruma-free space in her Auckland studio.
The farm in Kaukapakapa where Ema grew up is a long way from Tokyo. “When I was a kid I discovered that you don’t choose art, art chooses you.” She toyed with the prospect of art as a career but fitness offered more stability and Ema focused on obtaining a diploma in personal training. The pull of the big OE was strong and she left New Zealand in 2004 to spend two years working at odd jobs throughout California, Brazil, Morocco and England. “I spent a lot of time in the United States and discovered so many new products. It was easy to be creative when I was removed from my normal surroundings. I knew I had to pursue art again.”
Overseas art schools were expensive so in mid-2006 Ema returned to Auckland and enrolled in a one-year Diploma of Graphic Design at Natcoll Design & Technology (now known as Yoobee School of Design). “The diploma helped me to find the right medium but for most things I’m self taught. I get an idea in my head and find a way of creating it.”
Since graduating, Ema has tried her hand at ceramics, jewellery, prints, children’s books and figurines, often being told that the way she wanted to do things was not possible. “But I’ve learned not to listen when people say you can’t do something.”
The creation of her first prints in 2009 led to a commercial breakthrough. “I started with four core prints and I’ve kept adding to them. The drawings come from a made-up land in my head. The figures are based on both Maori and Japanese mythology; a lot of the myths and legends from the two cultures are quite similar.” Ema’s first retail opportunity came through a friend who introduced her to a Newmarket gallery. “Now I am stocked in six galleries and they are my main source of income.”
Her newest venture takes on the toughest of all art critics by making her characters stars of a series of children’s books. The hero is a little warrior boy searching for his princess. In a melding of Maori and Japanese culture, Ema has developed her own Daruma called Kaikaro, meaning goalkeeper. “He looks like a chubby tiki and appears when the warrior boy becomes distracted. It’s my dream to take him into schools where I could help students make papier-mâché versions of him to focus their goal setting. I’ve even made little motivational badges with Kaikaro’s face on them.”
For Ema, being an artist involves much more than just sitting down and creating. “Marketing and PR are becoming more and more important – it’s not just art any more. The hardest thing is getting it out there and still being creative. You have to have more than just a print these days. I love the idea of being on everything and anything: merchandise, furniture, fashion.”
Ema may need to head back to Japan to pick up more Daruma dolls to cope with her multiplying goals. She’s showcasing her work in the Air New Zealand Koru Lounge at Auckland International Airport, has several exhibitions lined up for 2014 and works as a personal trainer for five hours every morning. The Daruma has its eyes set on her artistic career and is blind to her love of surfing and her social life. “Art is in me, no matter what.I would hate not to do this. It’s my therapy; I get lost in my work.”
- See more at: http://nzlifeandleisure.co.nz/ema-frost-auckland-artist-in-action/#sthash.F4qpMFKB.dpuf
In Japanese culture, a doll called a Daruma is given to motivate goal setting and perseverance, yet it has no eyes. It is for the recipient to add them. “You hold the Daruma in one hand and visualize your goal, then apply one eye. Once you have reached your goal, you add the other one.” For artist Ema Frost the dolls are reminders of the tasks she has on the go. She keeps only a couple, which is just as well; if there were one for every goal she’s ticked off there wouldn’t be a Daruma-free space in her Auckland studio.
The farm in Kaukapakapa where Ema grew up is a long way from Tokyo. “When I was a kid I discovered that you don’t choose art, art chooses you.” She toyed with the prospect of art as a career but fitness offered more stability and Ema focused on obtaining a diploma in personal training. The pull of the big OE was strong and she left New Zealand in 2004 to spend two years working at odd jobs throughout California, Brazil, Morocco and England. “I spent a lot of time in the United States and discovered so many new products. It was easy to be creative when I was removed from my normal surroundings. I knew I had to pursue art again.”
Overseas art schools were expensive so in mid-2006 Ema returned to Auckland and enrolled in a one-year Diploma of Graphic Design at Natcoll Design & Technology (now known as Yoobee School of Design). “The diploma helped me to find the right medium but for most things I’m self taught. I get an idea in my head and find a way of creating it.”
Since graduating, Ema has tried her hand at ceramics, jewellery, prints, children’s books and figurines, often being told that the way she wanted to do things was not possible. “But I’ve learned not to listen when people say you can’t do something.”
The creation of her first prints in 2009 led to a commercial breakthrough. “I started with four core prints and I’ve kept adding to them. The drawings come from a made-up land in my head. The figures are based on both Maori and Japanese mythology; a lot of the myths and legends from the two cultures are quite similar.” Ema’s first retail opportunity came through a friend who introduced her to a Newmarket gallery. “Now I am stocked in six galleries and they are my main source of income.”
Her newest venture takes on the toughest of all art critics by making her characters stars of a series of children’s books. The hero is a little warrior boy searching for his princess. In a melding of Maori and Japanese culture, Ema has developed her own Daruma called Kaikaro, meaning goalkeeper. “He looks like a chubby tiki and appears when the warrior boy becomes distracted. It’s my dream to take him into schools where I could help students make papier-mâché versions of him to focus their goal setting. I’ve even made little motivational badges with Kaikaro’s face on them.”
For Ema, being an artist involves much more than just sitting down and creating. “Marketing and PR are becoming more and more important – it’s not just art any more. The hardest thing is getting it out there and still being creative. You have to have more than just a print these days. I love the idea of being on everything and anything: merchandise, furniture, fashion.”
Ema may need to head back to Japan to pick up more Daruma dolls to cope with her multiplying goals. She’s showcasing her work in the Air New Zealand Koru Lounge at Auckland International Airport, has several exhibitions lined up for 2014 and works as a personal trainer for five hours every morning. The Daruma has its eyes set on her artistic career and is blind to her love of surfing and her social life. “Art is in me, no matter what.I would hate not to do this. It’s my therapy; I get lost in my work.”
- See more at: http://nzlifeandleisure.co.nz/ema-frost-auckland-artist-in-action/#sthash.F4qpMFKB.dpuf
In Japanese culture, a doll called a Daruma is given to motivate goal setting and perseverance, yet it has no eyes. It is for the recipient to add them. “You hold the Daruma in one hand and visualize your goal, then apply one eye. Once you have reached your goal, you add the other one.” For artist Ema Frost the dolls are reminders of the tasks she has on the go. She keeps only a couple, which is just as well; if there were one for every goal she’s ticked off there wouldn’t be a Daruma-free space in her Auckland studio.
The farm in Kaukapakapa where Ema grew up is a long way from Tokyo. “When I was a kid I discovered that you don’t choose art, art chooses you.” She toyed with the prospect of art as a career but fitness offered more stability and Ema focused on obtaining a diploma in personal training. The pull of the big OE was strong and she left New Zealand in 2004 to spend two years working at odd jobs throughout California, Brazil, Morocco and England. “I spent a lot of time in the United States and discovered so many new products. It was easy to be creative when I was removed from my normal surroundings. I knew I had to pursue art again.”
Overseas art schools were expensive so in mid-2006 Ema returned to Auckland and enrolled in a one-year Diploma of Graphic Design at Natcoll Design & Technology (now known as Yoobee School of Design). “The diploma helped me to find the right medium but for most things I’m self taught. I get an idea in my head and find a way of creating it.”
Since graduating, Ema has tried her hand at ceramics, jewellery, prints, children’s books and figurines, often being told that the way she wanted to do things was not possible. “But I’ve learned not to listen when people say you can’t do something.”
The creation of her first prints in 2009 led to a commercial breakthrough. “I started with four core prints and I’ve kept adding to them. The drawings come from a made-up land in my head. The figures are based on both Maori and Japanese mythology; a lot of the myths and legends from the two cultures are quite similar.” Ema’s first retail opportunity came through a friend who introduced her to a Newmarket gallery. “Now I am stocked in six galleries and they are my main source of income.”
Her newest venture takes on the toughest of all art critics by making her characters stars of a series of children’s books. The hero is a little warrior boy searching for his princess. In a melding of Maori and Japanese culture, Ema has developed her own Daruma called Kaikaro, meaning goalkeeper. “He looks like a chubby tiki and appears when the warrior boy becomes distracted. It’s my dream to take him into schools where I could help students make papier-mâché versions of him to focus their goal setting. I’ve even made little motivational badges with Kaikaro’s face on them.”
For Ema, being an artist involves much more than just sitting down and creating. “Marketing and PR are becoming more and more important – it’s not just art any more. The hardest thing is getting it out there and still being creative. You have to have more than just a print these days. I love the idea of being on everything and anything: merchandise, furniture, fashion.”
Ema may need to head back to Japan to pick up more Daruma dolls to cope with her multiplying goals. She’s showcasing her work in the Air New Zealand Koru Lounge at Auckland International Airport, has several exhibitions lined up for 2014 and works as a personal trainer for five hours every morning. The Daruma has its eyes set on her artistic career and is blind to her love of surfing and her social life. “Art is in me, no matter what.I would hate not to do this. It’s my therapy; I get lost in my work.”
- See more at: http://nzlifeandleisure.co.nz/ema-frost-auckland-artist-in-action/#sthash.F4qpMFKB.dpuf
In Japanese culture, a doll called a Daruma is given to motivate goal setting and perseverance, yet it has no eyes. It is for the recipient to add them. “You hold the Daruma in one hand and visualize your goal, then apply one eye. Once you have reached your goal, you add the other one.” For artist Ema Frost the dolls are reminders of the tasks she has on the go. She keeps only a couple, which is just as well; if there were one for every goal she’s ticked off there wouldn’t be a Daruma-free space in her Auckland studio.
The farm in Kaukapakapa where Ema grew up is a long way from Tokyo. “When I was a kid I discovered that you don’t choose art, art chooses you.” She toyed with the prospect of art as a career but fitness offered more stability and Ema focused on obtaining a diploma in personal training. The pull of the big OE was strong and she left New Zealand in 2004 to spend two years working at odd jobs throughout California, Brazil, Morocco and England. “I spent a lot of time in the United States and discovered so many new products. It was easy to be creative when I was removed from my normal surroundings. I knew I had to pursue art again.”
Overseas art schools were expensive so in mid-2006 Ema returned to Auckland and enrolled in a one-year Diploma of Graphic Design at Natcoll Design & Technology (now known as Yoobee School of Design). “The diploma helped me to find the right medium but for most things I’m self taught. I get an idea in my head and find a way of creating it.”
Since graduating, Ema has tried her hand at ceramics, jewellery, prints, children’s books and figurines, often being told that the way she wanted to do things was not possible. “But I’ve learned not to listen when people say you can’t do something.”
The creation of her first prints in 2009 led to a commercial breakthrough. “I started with four core prints and I’ve kept adding to them. The drawings come from a made-up land in my head. The figures are based on both Maori and Japanese mythology; a lot of the myths and legends from the two cultures are quite similar.” Ema’s first retail opportunity came through a friend who introduced her to a Newmarket gallery. “Now I am stocked in six galleries and they are my main source of income.”
Her newest venture takes on the toughest of all art critics by making her characters stars of a series of children’s books. The hero is a little warrior boy searching for his princess. In a melding of Maori and Japanese culture, Ema has developed her own Daruma called Kaikaro, meaning goalkeeper. “He looks like a chubby tiki and appears when the warrior boy becomes distracted. It’s my dream to take him into schools where I could help students make papier-mâché versions of him to focus their goal setting. I’ve even made little motivational badges with Kaikaro’s face on them.”
For Ema, being an artist involves much more than just sitting down and creating. “Marketing and PR are becoming more and more important – it’s not just art any more. The hardest thing is getting it out there and still being creative. You have to have more than just a print these days. I love the idea of being on everything and anything: merchandise, furniture, fashion.”
Ema may need to head back to Japan to pick up more Daruma dolls to cope with her multiplying goals. She’s showcasing her work in the Air New Zealand Koru Lounge at Auckland International Airport, has several exhibitions lined up for 2014 and works as a personal trainer for five hours every morning. The Daruma has its eyes set on her artistic career and is blind to her love of surfing and her social life. “Art is in me, no matter what.I would hate not to do this. It’s my therapy; I get lost in my work.”
- See more at: http://nzlifeandleisure.co.nz/ema-frost-auckland-artist-in-action/#sthash.F4qpMFKB.dpuf

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

NZ Art Show 2014



Some new work that will be revealed in full at the end of this month at NZ Art Show 
Still a lot of work to do. x...










Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Jetstar Magazine - July 2014





So I randomly got a call from overseas to be in this months Jetstar issue....













Saturday, June 7, 2014

Auckland Art & Craft Fair 2014


I'll be at this years Auckland Art & Craft Fair, 28th June 11am-3pm 2014, with some new Frosty products to spread around. Hope to see you there xx

Monday, February 10, 2014

Interview with Remix Mag Summer Edition 2014







So after my return from Japan  I got to meet the lovely crew at Remix........

Every day the team at REMIX gets their morning caffeine fix from Santos, the coffee shop across the road from our office. As well as having great coffee, Santos has an ever-changing wall featuring artwork by Kiwi artists. The most recent collection of work, a series of illustrations by freelance artist EMA FROST, caught our eye with their bold colours and beautiful detailing. STEVEN FERNANDEZ grabbed Ema's details from the barista and phoned her up for a quick chat.

So Ema, sitting here in Santos and admiring your art on the wall, I must say I love your work. Did you approach Santos to display your work, or did they come to you? How does that kind of thing happen and do you have your work in other cafes or is this something new for you? Well actually, I remember seeing an artist that I really liked ages ago, before I even started drawing and I just remember the name Santos. Then is wasn't until a friend of mine exhibited there and I asked to him how he organised it and he just told me to get in touch with them. The owner Anne is really nice and basically that's what I did, I got a hold of her and she liked my work and she was cool for me to put it up!

As a freelance artist and illustrator how do you make most of your income? Is it the hard slog that people perceive it to be as an artist? Is it completely a labour of love or do you have another job on the side? I do other work on the side, but I think I'm lucky with the style of my work; it's quite commercial looking so it's more appealing to get other work. So it is really because I love doing it. It's hard to do a commercial project if you're not really on the same page as the client. I've now worked on some projects and they know what my style is like, so I've been able to just get on with it and they kind of expect that as they know what my style looks like.

Tell us about the inspiration and influences behind your work. I'm really inspired by Japanese art and I have just come back from spending a month in Japan. I really like the New Zealand history side of things so it's like an interwoven mix of Maori legends and the Japanese styles. I've kind of created an enchanted world, of what I see in my mind with my characters. I'm working on a children's book so I have written that and now I'm illustrating it. And I'd love for that to be made into an animated film.

What artists inspire you? You know what, I try not to look at anyone locally, because I don't want to be too influenced and then accidentally use their styles. I just try to do my own thing because I want my work to always be unique and I don't want people comparing it to other artists' work who may have influenced what I'm doing subconsciously, you know?

What about overseas? My favorite Japanese artist is Takashi Murakami, what do you think of him? I love his stuff! Ideally I'd love to be someone like that, because I love merchandising and he does that sort of work so well.

Yeah he did a Kanye West album cover I think. He's done heaps, he also did some Louis Vutton designs. He's incredible and has partnered up with hug companies. And he's done those huge sort of sculptural pieces made of chrome that look like bubbles.

I saw him in the MoMA in New York! He's everywhere now! The snowball effect of working on one of those projects like an album cover leading to all those amazing opportunities... That's what I need; I want work like that!

What other sort of things do you have on your creative bucket list? I want to work with big companies, I don't know who exactly but people that give me access to big projects. I'll continue to do more children's books, but the problem is I'm just interested in everything... So that's quite a tricky question, because there are just so many things I want to do. With me visiting Japan I realised I do want to get back into the sculptural sort of stuff again next year but that takes so long because it's so unpredictable working with ceramics and it's so hard and it's such a long process. You come across so many problems but then I guess that's the whole process; you always work out and solve what the problems are and that's what I love the most. It's like constant problem solving. How am I going to make this work? There has to be a way. I have gone to the people I know and they are like no you can't do that and you can't do it like that but I know there will be a way some how! I'm always up for a challenge and finding a solution to things I've been told I can't do.

What is the process that goes into producing one of these illustrations? It actually takes quite a lot as I can't just churn them out willy nilly because I do have quite a lot of thought behind each piece so there is a lot going on. I find it hard to articulate in words so I guess that's where I try and show it, in the imagery.

You can find this article on page 76 in the latest Remix Magazine along side a whole lot of other goodness!!

Hope you enjoyed!
E Frost xx  

 And if you're down in the beautiful Queenstown area pop in to Kapa Gallery where my latest works are showing.
http://www.kapa.co.nz/c/221/Ema-Frost.aspx



Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Kapa Gallery Exhibition - 24th Janurary - 19th Febuary

EMA FROST IN QUEENSTOWN!   

Wow, where has the time gone!! I do apologize for not keeping on top of my blog!! I still have a couple of posts I've missed!! re: follow up from my AMAZING time in Japan!! I did get loads of inspiration and have sooo many ideas where is one to begin. But I'd just like to share with you that I'll be having a Exhibition at Kapa Gallery in Queenstown NZ.

I welcome you to the enchanted, vibrantly colourful world of Ema Frost, where hummingbirds are reflected in the eyes of my characters and magical creatures hide in unsuspecting places, visible to only the most discerning eye. The delicately detailed images are inspired by the combined mythologies of Japanese and Maori folklore. The magic for me is in the detail. Each piece is not just an image, but a character with a history, name and mythology associated with it. My latest collection was born out of my most recent Artist in Residence in Japan, where I found my muse in the cities of Tokyo, Kanazawa, Osaka and Kyoto. And I hope all will enjoy :)

Also I'd just like to add since my return I've been very lucky to have my works grace the walls of the coveted Koru lounge at Auckland International Airport and am featured in the latest REMIX magazine which I will post the interview soon! I promise.

With lots of Frost
Ema xx

PS I'll be posting the art soon after the exhibition is underway