About Me

    

My name is Emma Evangeline Gustafson, I am a 26 year old full time artist and illustrator based on the beautiful Coromandel Peninsula. Through my painting practise I celebrate the beautiful whenua I am fortunate to inhabit. I aim to cultivate feelings of peace, stillness and gratitude for nature. When people look at my work I want them to feel inspired to go outside and connect. I think it's important to remember that everything in our world is so much more connected than we realise and I try to highlight this in my work through hidden metaphysical elements.

  
My Story

I started painting full time in 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic, after struggling to find a full time graphic design job, post university.
The first big illustration job I was fortunate to work on was The Story of Swoop, which managed to hit #1 on the NZ Children's bestseller list. Since then I have worked on a couple of other stories for NZ based authors but intended to write and illustrate my own books so I have greater creative freedoms!

What has been made clear to me, through the pandemic particularly, is that there has never been a better time in history to be an artist. 
Social media has given artists so much more power to get their work out into the world. Like so many artists today, I'm so grateful to be able to share and sell my work directly through Facebook + Instagram.

As well as selling online I also do physical markets, which have been a great way to get my art out into the world and have connected me with my amazing community! I really encourage artists to consider creating a pop up gallery and getting out into local markets, you never know what epic opportunities will come your way!

    

About Me:
I acquired my painting abilities from my grandmother Evangeline, she painted landscapes -most of them Manukau/Awhitu Peninsula based. She passed away when I was young but I can feel that her soul is present with me on this painting journey.
My ancestral lineage is a mixture of Scandinavian, Maori and European.
After moving to Whitianga I discovered that some of my Maori ancestors from Ngati Awa (based in Whakatane) were some of the first to settle in Whitianga, setting up our original trading post.. Which might explain why I feel such a strong connection to this whenua.
I have been living in Coromandel for over a year now and I can’t imagine living anywhere else.

Who are my artist heroes?

Alex Grey, Miles Johnston, Ivan Shishkin, Carl Spitzweg, Gustave Doré, Carol Evans, Shirley Barber, Moki

 

What is my advice for other aspiring artists?

My advice is to find out what art inspires you, think about what you want your art to do for the world and the feelings you wish to impart on your viewers. Every creative human has something unique and valuable to contribute to the creative collective world! You don’t need a degree to be an exceptional fine artist!
Although I have a degree in Graphic design, I am a completely self-taught artist and my process is very much intuitive.