RTDM: Emily Andress
Emily Andress
Artist & Gallery Owner
Charlotte, NC
We want to get to know you! Briefly tell us about yourself: Where you came from, where you've been and how you're living your dream?
I have spent my entire 40 year career as an artist. Although I was born in Connecticut and lived in California, most of my life has been spent in Charlotte. My dream was always to be an artist. With that comes definite highs and lows but it is a passion that has never abated. As an 8 year old, on a field trip to the Guggenheim Museum, I saw Duchamp's painting "Nude Descending a Staircase" and the decision was made right then and there that I would be an artist. I was lucky enough to be able to purchase a building in Mount Holly several years ago to put into motion a 30 year dream of owning a gallery with affordable studio space for artists on the 2nd floor and a studio space for me in the back of the gallery. This building was literally out of my dreams in every respect.
How do you define success?
For an artist, just being able to squeak out a living while engaged in your passion is a big success. For me, it is also about engaging the community in the arts and illustrating the importance of arts at a very young age in our schools.
What did it take to make your dream happen and how do you make it sustainable?
As if by magic, my dream building appeared on my computer screen and I immediately called the real estate agent and went to see it the next day. In order to make this happen, I was going to need to get the building for much less than they were asking and also receive two grants (one for the first floor business and one for the second floor artist studios). Then would come the task of finding a contractor who could make my dreams come true on a very precise budget. Mount Holly feels very magical to me because I was able to write a letter to the owner who loved what was going to go into the building and accepted my offer, the city council of Mount Holly gave me my grant requests for the two different floors (run as separate businesses), and Greg Beal, the city planner, introduced me to contractor Billy Rick who magically created my vision into reality on budget! It is sustainable because the affordable rent from the artist studios cover the monthly bills. It is an incredible symbiotic relationship that gives me the opportunity to show incredible works of art in Awaken Gallery that speak to my mission of showing work that helps the conversation of how we can learn from the past in order to move forward in a better way.
What are you most proud of? Go ahead, boast a little!
I am incredibly proud of the museum quality work we are showing in the gallery. This is the work of masters and I walk in every day amazed! I am proud of the city of Mount Holly for embracing the kooky idea of letting me put on a lantern parade and the Mount Holly Community Development Foundation for funding it. I'm proud of the artists and community members of our area who participated in the lantern parade and for the teachers who happily came in to learn how to make lanterns to teach their students and participate in this event! I'm proud of Mount Holly for creating the Arts Mount Holly board so we can go further with community arts projects! I am happy I could be a catalyst for this but it takes more than just me to make it happen. I am so proud of Gaston Alive Magazine for constantly promoting my gallery. I'm proud of the Belmont Banner for doing the same. I am proud of the Gaston County Development Corporation for thinking outside the box and working with me to get the message out.
What was your biggest obstacle/fear and what was your turning point?
This has been an idea I have had for 30 years. The biggest obstacle was finding the perfect building in a place who truly wanted me there. My turning point was when I met with Greg Beal (Mount Holly's City Planner) and he told me of their desire to turn Mount Holly into an arts destination. The meeting was set for 30 minutes. Two hours later, I got in my car, called the realtor and put an offer in on the building.
What’s the best advice you’d give to a younger you?
The best advice would be to continue to learn. Look at history and equate it with now and put those messages in your work from day one.
How do you stay motivated and purposeful when you feel overwhelmed?
A good example is the Lantern Parade. Last year, I received the funding for it 30 days before the parade, brought Olive Stack in from Ireland to teach workshops 20 days before the parade and had to quickly get people to know about it in any way possible. I got very little sleep, taught mini workshops in my studio, worried that we would only have a couple of lanterns and worried that no one would come to the parade. I can stay motivated for the rest of my life with the memory of the artists, community members, teachers, students, etc piling out of their cars and vans with lanterns, walking down the street and being greeted by scores of people cheering every lantern, and then standing in front of the sea of lanterns before the awards were handed out and being brought to tears.
Tell us a time when a perceived failure was actually a blessing in disguise or served you in a surprising way.
I don't see things as failures but more as learning opportunities. As an artist, there are plenty of those! I have learned so many things through trial and error but those are such great things that I just can't think of a failure off hand.
What is your favorite vice/guilty pleasure/strange habit? Come on now, we all have them!
Candy crush. I am literally hanging my head.
What's the smartest investment you’ve made for yourself?
Without question purchasing my building in Mount Holly
What’s MOST important to you right now?
Promoting my work and the work of the artists I represent while promoting the arts in education.
Share 1-2 books that have impacted you the most:
Wuthering Heights and the entire Harry Potter Series
What have you learned to say no to?
Too many meetings
What's something surprising about you?
Back in the day I was a champion horsewoman!
Who is a Risk Taker Dream Maker(s) that has inspired you? Why?
Mary Tucker
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