Artist Spotlight, Volume 2: Midpine Design
In the second edition of our ‘Artist Spotlight’ series, open. collaborated with Emily Pelsue, a Carolina-bred vocalist, artist and mother whose talent and southern charm is second to none. Her mission is to create meaningful and impactful art to enjoy and share with those you love. Emily shared a really powerful message with us regarding courage and determination that culminated in the creation of our “Eyes on the Prize” hoodie.
The open. x Midpine Design collaboration is pledging 25% of hoodie proceeds to the Black Art Futures Fund—a collective of emerging philanthropists promoting the elevation and preservation of Black arts & culture. To help support the cause you can shop the shirt here, and continue reading to find out more about Emily’s journey as an artist, the inspiration behind “Eyes on the Prize,” and her creative process.
“Hi! My name is Emily and I am the founder of Midpine Design. I started my art business two years ago, but I have been involved in all things creative for most of my life. For the last 20 years, I have been a vocalist in a band and being a part of that creative process is so much fun. Several years ago, I began to really sense an urge to find a creative outlet that was my own and so, after some time and intentionality put toward drawing, Midpine Design was born. My love for drawing florals really drove me at the beginning of my journey and so the name “Midpine” came from the street my grandparents lived on when I was growing up. We would go pick wildflowers that grew on the bank and that memory is one I have always held near and dear to my heart.
I have always loved drawing and expressing myself through that medium, so I became very intentional about putting my time and energy into becoming better at it. Since then, I have had the privilege of designing several album covers for musical artists, t-shirt designs for groups, and doing my custom line drawings and hand lettering for lots of different clients. I even got to design a tattoo for someone once! Most of my work is done on an iPad Pro but I do love painting on a jean jacket every once-in-awhile! Finding a passion, pursuing a creative process, and then starting my own business has been such a special journey for me. It brings me so much joy to create something meaningful and beautiful for others to enjoy.
The “Eyes on the Prize” design was such a good collaboration. Ken [Marshall] and I were texting about artistic inspirations from current events and I shared a phrase that had been on my mind and in my heart. I had even written it on my mirror with dry-erase marker. There is an old folk hymn that goes by several different titles, but known to me as “eyes on the prize.” The words really resonated with me regarding our social climate and everything I was seeing on the news and social media. Eyes on the prize was a charge and an encouragement to keep pressing forward toward the things that really matter. To keep my focus, and help others focus, on the real issues and the most important matters at-hand. Keeping my “eyes on the prize” was a call to not be deterred or discouraged by every side argument, defense and misguided notion; but to stay focused on the bottom-line. Let’s stay focused on the issues of racial justice, equality, and loving and supporting our community.
This idea also relates to the entire pandemic situation in the way that we need to be aware of our new environment and do what is necessary, like wearing a mask, socially distancing, and using hand sanitizer, to show our community that we care and are considerate of each other.... and by doing so, keeping our eyes on the prize of being able to return to a better and just society that is functioning for all of us ordinary people. So, with our eyes on the prize of: Love, Support, and Unity we can make this world of ours different, for the better.
This conversation led to a collaboration of ideas with the open. team on how to best communicate that message through an art piece. We came up with several concepts and landed on a line drawing of a photo Ken had taken at a march in Venice. Once I got the line drawing nailed down, we tweaked several things about the details and the design for the hoodie came to be! I love being a part of such a positive message and contributing to a campaign that is encouraging everyone to stay focused on doing our part to make our world better, more loving, and more accepting.”