Meet Emily Tayman | Artist, Painter, Muralist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Emily Tayman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Emily, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I didn’t necessarily choose the path of having an artistic career but it chose me. Painting has been a part of my life since I have been a child, and I am completely self taught. I worked many jobs in my younger years while doing art on the side, and it was soul draining for me. I knew that I would only find my strongest integrity and motivation through being my own boss and doing what I was truly passionate about. So I took the risk of ruthlessly dedicating myself to making this my way of making a living. It is not a point A to B experience. I have moments in which I think I have made it and then find myself right back in the slumps of a downfall. But this is what risk is, and continuing to have courage and determination, makes it continue to grow. I have learned so much through this adventure of the art world, and have so much more to master. Recently, business has been slow. I have been learning to be okay with that and learning what it feels like to not just work, hustle, and grind but be still, have peace of mind, be broke, be and okay with it. Summer 2023 is a whole new experience for me because of this slowness but with that I learn. Anyways… I encourage anyone considering the path of making what they love, to make it a living, and to know one important fact.. you must be brave enough to make what you love, something you may resent while on the path of turning into a monetary dependency. It is tough, it is nothing less than the hardest thing you may endure, but all great things come with great risk.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
The art world is a wild place. I think a lot of us deal with imposter syndrome. In my personal experience, I cannot hone in on a niche. With myself, Emily.. evolving, learning and growing everyday, how can I expect my art to stay the same? It has not been an easy path.  I didn’t have direct artists with knowledge or insight in my life. I had to make every mistake to get where I am. To this very day I am still mistaking, questioning, identity “crisising”, and having my ”AHA” moments. The industry makes you feel you have to do things certain ways to succeed, make art a certain way, sell it a certain way, use certain color tones. I am trying my best to unlearn.

This summer I am staying in the high desert to hone in on my most vulnerable canvas art series I have ever created. Let it be known that it is August and I still haven’t rolled out the blank canvas. It is a terrifying task, and one that takes a very specific feeling and moment to begin the momentum. When that will be? I don’t know for certain. But I can feel its grasp. This will be one so far, the most challenging experience I have ever done in my art career. I am about to be mending my personal most fearful parts of my life with a paintbrush for the public. Not to mention with no monetary guarantee, or comfort of any idea what will happen.

I hope one day my niche will come through, that I’ll secure and mend into my “visual identity”, but for now I will explore the depths of all inspirations that ignite me on a sensory level. Whether love, audible inspiration, food, adventure, new released traumas.. it is simply one day at a time.

I am most excited to relish in this new vulnerable art phase. To cry, hurt, and feel through art rather than it be a veil of beauty or business murals with surface area appreciation. I am ready to dive deep into a paintbrush being a ruthless, stubborn, healer for me and those who are inspired by it.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?

Jumping right in.. from the beginning. My father passed away when I was 12 years old. He was an artist mind, I know in my DNA I got my artistic path from him. My family never limited me to my creative fire. I was able to express myself and do whatever my manic mind felt so passionate to follow in those moments. My grandmother got me oil pastels and paint for Christmas one year as a teenager. I remember this really fueling the fire of creativity for me to become a daily practice. My family and friends from my hometown in Annapolis, Maryland would always buy my art and be so supportive… even when I had no idea about the actual skills of painting. When I moved to Boulder, CO I had many friends buying my early pieces, which was truly something that kept this path going.

My first moment of “I’ve made it!” was with the Luvlab Productions team when I was living in Big Sur. The central coast of California developed my “networking” abilities and live art painting, yet again keeping me on the path where I am now..

After 6 years in California adventuring around in my 1986 Toyota Dolphin I decided it was time for a new chapter. So I moved to Tarpon Springs, Florida.. a place I have called home since 2017. The Tampa Bay Area had a major positive influence on my mural business and really changed the game for me. I am very grateful for my community I still have there.

Since 2021, the high desert of California in the Joshua Tree/Yucca Valley community has brought me to a point in my career that I have fantasized my entire life. Shoutout to my close friend Sarah Grace of Soul Bunny Silver for welcoming me to this area. A good friend Robert Warner Leather out of Joshua Tree for introducing me to Jasmine and Lorenzo at Spaghetti Western which was my first mural in this region. Linus the owner of Giant Rock Meeting Room gave me my most recent mural opportunity with full creative freedom. Dion Antic found me through my Spaghetti Western project and we just had an amazing soft opening at his new space Snakebite Roadhouse which I have done multiple projects at. This community in the desert is full of amazing eclectic peers, I couldn’t ask for more.. and the list goes on. I have since had recent art showings of my canvas work, and an incredible amount of engagement and a supportive friend circle that has developed in this community.

I have murals through out the country as well as Mexico. Im thrilled to see where my art career grows and for any opportunities that bloom.

As for mentors and inspiration, every single creature on this earth that has the courage to create, you are an inspiration to me. I cannot even begin to list the artists that I dream of at night. Thank you for being you, and continuing to make the world a more beautiful place.

Website: ww.w.emilytaymanart.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilytaymanpaints/?hl=en

Linkedin: Emily Tayman Art

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EmilyTayman/

Image Credits
Stephen Lamarche Alyssa Cherry Caitlin Joyce Photography Chelsea Alexandra