Arts in Focus on PBS Fort Wayne is funded in part by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne.

Coming up, we'll talk with artist Emily Mercedes and photographer Ani Weitzel.

It's all next on Arts in Focus.

Welcome to Arts in Focus.

I'm Emilie Henry.

Emily Mercedes is an artist whose passion is creating colorful paintings that evoke feelings of nostalgia.

Working out of her studio here in downtown Fort Wayne.

Emily creates using several mediums, including watercolor paints, gouache and micron pen.

Her work often contains recognizable locations, pop culture references, food and drink brands, toys and other sentimental items from our past.

Emily, thank you so much for having me to your studio.

I had so much fun going through your website and your Instagram.

I mean, I think fun is is how I would describe your work.

Let's start at the beginning.

When did you start expressing yourself as an artist?

I definitely started drawing a lot when I was little, but the real love started to hit in high school.

My art teacher in high school would call my choir teacher and say, Hey, can Emily stay a little longer in class?

It worked out really for both of them for me to not be down in the choir class, if that makes sense.

But I would just live in the art room in the afternoon and loved it.

So was it clear to you, really from the get go that you were good at it, that there was like an inherent talent?

I loved doing it and I think that I realized that I was starting to get good at it.

In college, I would finish a piece and be like, Oh, because I got more tools in my tool belt about how to mix colors properly.

That's one thing I think I excel at is color mixing and the use of color.

So once I started doing that in college, I was like, okay.

And then I really fell in love with it then, and it was like no looking back.

So you went to IU.

Am I correct about that?

Yes.

Did you study art?

Actually, no.

it was a head vs heart game when I got there because this is pre Instagram, Facebook.

Like making a living as an artist was it was elusive to me.

I was like, I don't know how that's going to work.

So I did go to school for elementary ed, but I did concentrate in studio art and probably around my senior year I was telling my dad and my mom was like, I don't think I really want to teach.

And they were like, We know you only talk about your art classes.

Yeah.

So that's when I kind of started to make a little bit of a shift after that.

And what did that shift look like?

Did you decide that you were going to make your career as an artist, or how did you really kind of decide to foray into art solely?

Well, I was painting just for myself on the side when I moved to Chicago after I graduated again with like an elementary education degree.

Didn't end up teaching, though.

I ended up working in the Internet world as a sales planner.

And then my brothers started a very popular website and they recruited me to start another version of it the female version.

So I was the head editor of a website for years with my sister.

So it was a family company.

But after I had a child, I just, you know, during nap time, every once in a while I would start painting and tinkering and then started making a few little illustrations here and there.

And all I wanted to do was paint and not really blog anymore.

So finally, when my son was my now ten year old was one, I went in and quit my job as a head editor and was like, I think I just want to do this painting thing.

So it just I hit the ground running there and did a 90 day project where I made a painting a day for 90 days because I had to build a portfolio.

So it's been a solid nine years that I just painted almost every day.

Wow.

Okay.

I read that you like to paint with watercolors, gouache What other mediums do you use?

Well, watercolor is kind of was the default for me because I had to put away all my oil paints when the kids were born because it's so messy.

It smells.

It's like it's it's very hard to clean up.

So I busted out the watercolors and I was like, Let's see how I can do this.

I didn't take any classes in watercolor, so I'm completely self-taught.

It was just the sheer, repetitive nature of it.

So I created my own voice with that.

And then I accidentally stumbled upon acrylic gouache because I bought a tube thinking it was watercolor because I was trying to color match and I was like, What is this?

So I really started doing that a lot more.

Over the past four years.

I started being able to paint larger scale on panels like you see around me.

The colors are so vibrant, it definitely dries faster than an oil, and it's not as there's like almost like a plastic feel to regular acrylic, which was not my favorite.

So I just have been loving that.

I mentioned at the beginning I just had fun looking at your work.

I mean, it brings so much joy.

Was your esthetic always this colorful and fun or did that change somewhere along the way, perhaps when you had kids?

I definitely started making stuff in Chicago, pre kids, and it was way more abstract and funky.

It was colorful.

When I started to do the illustrations, this is Post Kids.

They were very whimsical, and I definitely think that having kids has something to do with like finding my inner child.

I think when I make my artwork, I don't take it so seriously that there's this massive story behind it.

Like you know, something tragic had to happen for me to create this.

I really like to pull on people's heartstrings, whether it's something nostalgic from their childhood or just something that they could relate to color wise, that it reminds them of, again, mostly something from their childhood or a place that they used to live.

I love to capture places as well as things.

You do it extremely effectively.

I was researching you last night.

I'm scrolling and I see Polly Pocket and I said to my daughter, this is what Polly Pocket used to be used to actually be pocket size.

Gone are the days when you can have teeny tiny Polly Pocket, but again, just pure joy.

I hadn't thought about Polly Pocket in years.

Yeah.

So you mentioned that you feel like one of your strengths is color mixing.

Tell me what that looks like for you.

Well, when it comes to watercolor, I have had the same palette for years and years, and I've mixed colors that can be reused over and over again.

So it it's one of my favorite mediums because of that reason, because I've done a lot of the work over the years.

And I just kind of keep re-adding to different sections like the blue section, whatever it may be.

But a lot of times I'll work from a photo reference and if it's matching something that is, you know, from a photo, I can I can kind of take a look at my palette and see if I have something similar.

It's not always completely hyper realistic by any means, but there are some times where somebody will look at my work and think that it looks exactly like the photo.

If I'm if I'm making an object, for example, it's not necessarily what I'm trying to do.

I just keep adding layers until it kind of brings it to life.

And then I feel like it's just done.

Like I unless it's a piece like the one behind me, that one took two months to work on.

And the colors are not true to the exact colors of the photo, but it's where some of the whimsy comes out.

And I added things like more leaves where there was a tree that was more sparse, so I can get a little bit more playful with colors on that one too.

I love that Lakeside painting.

It's so beautiful.

Thank you.

Tell me about your process.

I imagine the process for painting a Ring Pop, for example, is different than painting Lakeside.

But what does that look like?

Are you sketching first, or are you doing it digitally?

How does that work?

So for the Lakeside piece, I had gotten a commission to do Lakeside and Foster Park painting last summer, and so I just went out and I don't have a fancy camera.

I just took my iPhone and it was at dusk and I started taking some shots.

Then I used that as a as a reference.

A lot of times I'll use a projector to project my work to get the exact placement of where to put the lines, where the pergola would go, that kind of stuff.

And sometimes my sketches for something like that would be slightly looser.

Like this is generally where the trees would go.

And then I would just continue to look at the photo on my computer or my phone, depending on where I'm working from.

Tell me about any other mediums that you are excited to try or are you are you are you happy where you are?

Well, the piece is actually behind you.

I have been tinkering with and that has some alcohol inks on it and different watercolors that you can buy.

They're already like super watered down in a in a little squeezy bottle, I guess is the best way to put it.

And a lot of times my stuff is so detailed.

So then I'll kind of transition to an abstract piece to just like play, pure play.

So I just started that piece one day, like half watching a television show and just starting to mess around it with different different inks and stuff to see what how they reacted to each other.

So I do want to transition more into abstract works because that's kind of what's hanging in my house.

A lot of times, and people don't really know that I do those as much.

But it's it's kind of like, I don't know, I don't have to think as much about it.

I can be more intuitive and playful, and I just want to see kind of where that goes over the next year.

Do you have a favorite piece or a favorite type of piece at least?

I think the piece directly behind you I made for my husband, It's all of the places that we've lived and it only makes sense for just the two of us.

It's it's got, you know, the Dominican Republic and where we went to college.

It even has Colombia Street.

If anyone remembers that back in the day in Fort Wayne.

Sure.

So that is one piece that will forever go to every single home.

And there are just certain pieces where I'll hang it up in a spot in my house and then it just makes sense.

Maybe I'll sing a different tune if we move to a different home and another piece might work better there for me.

But that one's got to be the one, and that's an oil painting.

So that's pretty much after that one.

I packed up the oil, so I need to get them back out again and see if they're even wet enough to paint with.

Does doing commission work bring you as much joy as just expressing whatever it is you want to express?

I have been lucky enough to have a pretty full commission list since I started, and more often than not it can be very joyful.

I will say some of them can be a little tricky.

You know, we have two different visions, but for the most part it is fun to create something that can live in somebody else's home.

And to me, I was just at an event a couple of weekends ago and it was very fun to meet some people that said, Oh, I have some of your prints in my house.

And knowing that people from all over the world have purchased some prints, I've been shipping internationally as well.

So it's just really neat to know that like, Oh, you like it enough to put it in your house or gift it to somebody else.

That to me, I love creating works that could be perfectly giftable for somebody like, Oh my gosh, this reminds me of so and so that to me, if Im at an art show like listening to people talk about it is is much cooler than like, obviously I love getting an order online who doesnt it.

But it's very cool to hear them talk about it and see how somebody would relate to it.

Well, Emily, you are a joy.

This was so much fun and I feel like, strangely, I'm just going to continue to go back to your Instagram and scroll to make myself happy.

Thank you so continue, please, to bring so much joy to the city and the world.

How cool.

And thank you for taking the time.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for coming to my studio is really nice to meet you.

For more information visit Emily Mercedes dot com.

I'm joined now by photographer Ani Weitzel.

Ani, thank you for being here.

I can't wait to get into your current work, but before that I want to talk about how you got into photography.

What was it that made you initially pick up the camera?

I kind of always had that knack for it as I was growing up.

My mom tells me I'd run around with all the cameras and everything, but the first time I really remember starting photography was at a track meet my junior year of high school, and one of the girls that I knew, she had to go run in her race, but she was in yearbook, so I told her I would take the camera, see if I could get any photos while she was running.

And that was when I really started I think.

And you knew at that point that you liked it, but did you feel like you were good at it?

Did it feel like it came naturally to you?

I felt like the like randomness of the event kind of helped me because it wasn't something I needed to post people for.

So I feel like that really brought it to fruition.

I think of like, okay, maybe this can be a fun creative outlet.

And then my senior year, I had done a kind of like an internship thing with the school's public relations guy, and I was like, okay, this could be cool.

And so he had me go into like all of the school events and taking photos, and I think that was really where it got started of like kind of like a photo documentary style thing.

And one of my friends would do like the written articles for it.

See, I feel like that was kind of the beginning of it, but I did end up going to college after that for computer science and then, like rediscovering it in college, I went to Huntington University and so they were really helpful about doing this custom major program that they have.

And so I was able to combine like my computer science and like web design and business and public relations and graphic design.

And so all of that's how I ended up getting my bachelor's degree, just combining that.

And I had, like, the best professor who I had taken.

I took Intro to Art, which you like have to take, and Dr. Barb Michael, everyone go to Huntington University and meet her because I'm serious.

She called me my sophomore year when I I'd taken that class and said, You're going to be an art teacher.

I think you're going to be really good at it.

And I was like, I'm not teaching ever.

And now I teach high school graphic design.

And I was like, I called her and I was like, I'm scared because why did you Like, how would you know?

Yeah.

What was her answer?

What did she see in you that that allowed her to look into your future?

I think I wasn't even good at that class.

That's what gets me.

And she knows that, too.

But I think I just sat in the front, and I think I had, like, the, like, energized personality, maybe.

Yeah.

And then it's like, you know, I can work with the kids really well because I think they can relate to me.

And it's just a great opportunity for me to give back in that way, you know?

But I always knew corporate graphic design wasn't really where I wanted to go because I like having a lot of freedom.

And so now I feel like I think she knew that about me and then saw that, you know, I think you need to interact with like high schoolers, maybe because I was acting like one.

Who knows?

Honestly, I don't know.

So when I look at your photos, how much of what I'm seeing is manipulated in some way through Photoshop or whatever the case may be.

I would say probably only my concert photos, and that's just through like color grading and photo editing.

them like everything else is pretty much straight out of the camera unless I'm like giving it a warmer tone.

I try to keep them as natural as possible, so it's something people are actually could see in their daily life and then kind of reflect and be like, Oh, I that's something Ani took a photo of, you know.

Okay.

I wanted to talk about that because it feels to me like you have such a clear esthetic.

And I think it goes back to that editorial beginning.

Yeah, I love that you you have photos.

There's one of someone outside a closed Burger King, you know, that kind of thing.

And it's like you can you see the person, but it tells you so much more, which is really cool.

So is that what you're striving for with your esthetic?

I like drive my car around a lot to find locations, and I was kind of like, I might be in a rut right now, but I'm going to drive around, see what I can find, see what's pretty, and then catch capture, like really those mundane moments, you know, like, I really feel like I look for a lighting first, and if it's got good lighting, I know it can anything can be pretty with good lighting, honestly.

Yeah.

It was my roommate that I'd taken a photo of, and she was the one that wanted to do a photo shoot at Burger King.

And I was like, We'll make it work.

Yeah.

And so ended up being really fun and just trying, like, random spots I think that you wouldn't think would work.

But kind of the contrast between, like, someone looking really nice and then, you know, a closed Burger King, you know?

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

There's something about it that never would have occurred to me, but there's something about it that just makes it really cool.

I loved a lot of the the senior portrait work that you do, too, because, I mean, people laugh.

It's a joke now about the posed senior pictures and that's not how yours look.

They there's something about them that now if I see one that you've taken, I'll say, Oh, that's an Ani photo.

Is that what is that what you're going for or has it just sort of naturally evolved that way?

I think it kind of just naturally evolved that way.

I don't really tend to think a lot about poses.

I actually feel like that's kind of what I struggle most with is like, if it's not organically happening, I'm not always the first one to be like, Here's how I'm going to frame it.

Here's how I'm going to think about it.

Composition comes easily.

I think for me, just, you know, with how I look at the scene and then kind of just tell them to do what they need to do and then just capturing, you know, like I think my ideal situation would be like someone else is taking their photos.

They don't know I'm there and I'm just capturing that alongside them, you know?

Yeah, kind of like capturing what they might be missing.

Yeah.

So I think that goes into it.

That's interesting because you say in your social media that you just love capturing moments like a moment in time.

Yeah.

So do you feel like that's how you're looking at the world, that you are just constantly like clicking and freezing moments?

Yeah, pretty much I would say so, because yeah, I just have this like nostalgic feeling of I'm going to miss my youth, you know?

And so I'm like, if I can capture it, even if it's just what I had for breakfast with my mom at a diner, like, I'm going to remember it now.

And it's pretty to me, you know, it's like someone else is able to see it through my eyes, Like I see this buscuits and gravy meal as very cinematic, very like artsy.

And now, like, I can create that through a photo.

Someone else can see what I saw, you know?

Yeah.

What a cool.

I've never thought of it that way, but what a cool way to walk through the world that like this biscuits and gravy I don't given enough time before I dive in.

So to look at it and see the beauty in it and then want to share that with other people.

Yeah.

So cool.

How do you feel like you have evolved as an artist from that junior in high school and to to now where it's it's your business?

Yeah, I would say it's been a tough journey because, you know, a lot of like photography work is you can't really do it unless you pay the bills.

And so it's like how do I make this into something that can sustain me?

And so I feel like that's tough.

Luckily, I work in a high school now I'm in I meet a ton of seniors that I'll be able to take photos of.

But I think like as I've grown, I've realized, you know, I have to do it for me.

And I can't just do what other people want.

And if they don't like my style, they could just go to someone else, you know what I mean?

And I think a lot of photographers recently have come to that realization.

I was like, You saw my website, you know what work I'm going to put out, and if you don't like it, I'm sorry, but I can't change my style, you know?

Yeah.

And so just trying to be authentic through it has been like, really important.

Hearing you say that, how much do you focus on the process versus the product?

Do you feel like the process is more important to you or because it is your business, do you have to focus more on the product?

Yeah, it's a it's a weird balance because I think even like, for example, a senior, like if they didn't enjoy like that, like hour we're taking photos but they like the photos, it's still kind of like, okay, but I don't know if I really care anymore, you know?

So in all of it, I think it is all about the process, for sure.

Knowing how important your professor was in your in your education, but then kind of in your whole trajectory, how does that change the kind of teacher you are?

Are you trying to bring that to to your students?

Mm hmm.

Definitely so, because I know a lot of them take it as they're, like mandatory credits.

Yeah.

And so it I think when they see me excited about it, they're able to get excited about it themselves, you know, just talking to them about real world usage is really important.

And so definitely them seeing me try and grow as an artist, you know, even if I'm just still a struggling artist or whatever, whatever the case may be, I think just seeing that this is an option for me is really important and just enjoying it like not, I think that I found the less I think about it in like overthink it, the better it like is overall.

Yeah, it gives them the opportunity to also just enjoy it and think of it as a good memory.

Even if they don't enjoy like doing all the projects, you know?

Yeah, your work is so beautiful, but I'm, I'm also so drawn to the fact that you are showing young people how a creative outlet, regardless of what the business looks like, having that creative outlet is so important and so special.

Definitely.

So the work you do is important and and incredible.

So thank you for that and thank you for taking the time to sit down with me.

Of course.

Of course.

Thank you for having me.

I appreciate it a lot.

It's really fun.

It's really cool.

For more information, find Ani Weitzel photography on Instagram.

Our thanks to Emily, Mercedes and Ani Weitzel.

Be sure to join us next week for Arts in Focus.

You can catch this and other episodes at PBS Fort Wayne dot org or through our app and be sure to check out our YouTube channel.

Thank you for watching.

And in the meantime, enjoy something beautiful Arts in Focus on PBS Fort Wayne is funded in part by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne.