Emily Merletto is one of my favorite local artists here in Chatham County, North Carolina. Her artwork invites me to come closer, study it intently, and it often makes me feel like I am welcome to enter. I first became familiar with Emily’s work at a local exhibition a few years ago. I have been a fan ever since. Naturally, I asked her to write a bit about her sense of creativity…
I live in a world comprised of structure, rules, and parameters. Rubrics, laws, and codes of conduct dictate daily life. The internet and social media spout common norms that box us in to what is clean, accepted, liked and safe.
Creativity releases me from these boundaries. It frees me -making way for limitless expression- it erases suffocating societal constraints, judgments, and fear. The only limitations set upon my creativity are those that my mind allows and my palette possesses. Creativity opens the door to reinventing myself over and over again. It uncovers the childlike imagination buried deep within. Creativity saves me from the monotony of routine. It harbors me in a cove of wonder where infinite possibilities surpass the number of stars in the night sky.
A reverberating energy bubbles just below the surface; pulling and tugging on the inner workings of my heart and mind. Creativity releases this energy and breaks the accumulation of mental and emotional grime that builds daily. Without it, I would be a prisoner of my own volition –attempting to stop the moon from controlling the highs and lows of the ocean tides.
I find beauty in the natural world around me- losing myself in the myriad of colors, patterns, and textures of life. I paint in homage of earth’s wonder- in reverence to the astounding conscious experience of being human and all the pain and beauty it bestows upon me.
Find Emily on Instagram @_emerlettoart_
