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Emma Overman was born in Sete Lagoas, Brazil and raised in a small town in Tennessee. Being equal parts reclusive and escapist, Emma spent her early formative years retreating into books and records. It is largely a lingering appreciation for children's literature and imagery that inspires her work today. She graduated from Hanover College in 1997 and completed the Post Baccalaureate Program at Maryland Institute College of Art a year later. Creating art full time since 2000, Emma has illustrated a few picture books, designed posters for area events, and won two international illustration competitions. These days she spends most of her time on her own independent projects and showing her paintings nationwide. Her work was recently featured in the book, “Edgycute: from Neo-Pop to Low Brow and Back Again,” by Harry Saylor.
A dominant theme that runs through Emma’s work is a sense of elegant nostalgia. Children and animals are often used because she feels they have a greater capacity to communicate emotion than adult characters. Emma loves all the curiosities of childhood, the sense of wonder and uncertainty when experiencing something for the first time, and how the world seems to change from year to year. She has an appreciation for anything that is part sweet and part sad, like the frail and fleeting nature of youth. Emma’s paintings are inspired by children’s literature, stop-motion animation, and the “It’s a Small World” ride. She finds greater influence, however, in the most unlikely places and at the most unlikely moments.
