Meet Emily Arenberg | Fine Artist & Small Business Owner

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

Hi Emily, why did you pursue a creative career?
I first decided to pursue my art as a career when I switched majors twice in college. I was originally an education major and remember feeling unfulfilled in almost all of my education classes while my peers were very passionate and excited to start teaching. I then switched to my major to Art History because I was still living in fear of not being able to get a “good job” once I graduated if I chose Fine Art. As much as I enjoyed learning about art history, I quickly realized that I am 100% not a historian and simply love art. The only classes I felt extremely passionate about and was excelling in were my studio art classes. I knew that I felt most aligned when I was creating daily and not only daily, but for a majority of my day. They always say, third times a charm, so for the third time of my college career I switched my major to Art and have been pursuing and creating my career ever since.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Although I went to school for painting and concentrated in mainly oils and watercolors, I’m very proud to see how much my art has grown in the past 8 years. I started experimenting with epoxy resin on canvas about 6 years ago and fell in love with the fluidity and richness of the medium. For me, it was like taking properties from water colors and oil paints and putting them into one new, fun medium. I absolutely loved it. It wasn’t until I moved back to my home town of Cape May County, NJ when my artwork really took off, especially my resin work. Im very proud to say that I am now able to pursue my art full time and purchased an LLC as well. It’s been a long road of years filled with attempts and failures, and some successes sprinkled in to be able to call myself a full time artist. There’s been gallery shows where I have drove hours to drop off paintings and have sold nothing, there have been art events or craft shows where I’ve expected a great turn out or good networking opportunities for the event to fall flat. Dozens of waitressing jobs to supplant my art in 3 different states that I’ve either quit or gotten fired from because lets face it, Im not the best server. It’s been years of trial and error and when you’re starting out, it is really all on you. Especially as a sole artist. You don’t have a team telling you what events to do or who the right person to talk to is about getting into “x” gallery. Those resources simply are not there for a lot of emerging artists.
I personally learned a lot through trial and error and experience. I’ve learned what shows or exhibits to do over time. I started to learn what sells and what does not by simply just participating in any event I could find regardless of what city I was living in at the time. I always had a notebook on me at my earlier art shows and jotted down notes on what to change for next time. I used to get so nervous at events in the beginning until realizing that people are essentially buying a piece of you when they buy your art so just being yourself and creating genuine relationships, and not taking yourself too seriously really helps when speaking to potential buyers or customers.
What I’d like the world to know about my art and story is that my only goal when creating, whether it be one of my paintings, a table, or a resin piece, is for the viewer to light up the same way I light up when I’m creating it. My two best feelings in the world are when I’m in the midst of a creative flow, in my studio, working on a piece. I really can feel myself lighting up on the inside. The second greatest feeling is when I’m at a show and someone comes into my booth or walks by and they see one of my pieces, then all of a sudden, I see that same light on their face as they stop to look at my artwork. The feeling is indescribable and Im so grateful for it every time it happens.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Im not sure what city were talking about here so Ill put Cape May, NJ since that’s where Im from and Janet who referred me to you guys is from!

Eat/ Drink:

Brunch: The Mad Batter, attached the the Virgina Hotel. Great brunch spot decorated with local art. They also have have great live music weekend nights in the Winter and almost every night in the Summer. Open mic night on Sundays is the best. I’ll be displaying my artwork in there for the entire month of June. Best pancakes in the entire world. Not even kidding. I can never finish them because they’re so fluffy and delicious and filling. They’re famous for the brunch drink, the Manmosa which is like a mimosa on steroids.

Lunch: Block Party, located on Beach Ave. You can’t beat farm to table, and sea to table food just steps away from the beach. They have an ever changing FRESH menu all Summer long like freshly caught sea bass sandwiches that you can catch being delivered straight from the boat daily, baked oysters, farm to table salads. Everything Ive eaten there has been extremely high quality and fresh without breaking the bank.

Dinner: The Ebbit Room for a fancy dinner, best fine dining on the island in my opinion. Lucky Bones for a casual dining. Get the bacon wrapped scallops and the Rocket Salad.

Visit:

Beaches, Obviously

Cape May Point Park, visit the lighthouse and the nature trails surrounding the area.

Beach Plum Farm

Misty Meadows Sheep and Dairy, its about a 30 min drive from Cape May buy you can pet and feed baby sheep in the spring and who doesnt love baby sheep?!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The Marymount Manhattan Art Department. Thank you especially to Beth Shipley and Hallie Cohen for not only teaching us the fundamentals of painting, design, color, and the art industry, but for making the 8th floor home during my stay at Marymount.

Website: www.emilyarenbergart.com

Instagram: @em_a_art

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

Other: https://www.pinterest.com/emily_arenberg_art/