What are the benefits and downsides of working for yourself? Emma is a full-time artist and illustrator who creates incredible nature-based scenes. In 2020, she illustrated The Story of Swoop, which hit #1 on the NZ Children's Bestseller list. Emma just finished a solo exhibition in the Coromandel and was recently featured on the cover of the Coromind magazine. She comes to the Altbays Show to discuss the challenges of being a full-time artist, mental health and much more! We are pleased to have the fashion designer Beth Claire as a co-host!

Welcome to the Altbays Show (Feat. Beth Claire and Leo Magri)

Emma Evangeline Gustafson, is a full-time artist and illustrator based in Whitianga. She primarily paints nature-based scenes and local landscapes. She loves exploring the Coromandel peninsula and painting special spots she finds off the beaten track. Through her painting, she gets to showcase the magic of the Coromandel – the pristine beaches, bush, birdlife, creeks, crystals and stunning rock formations. She loves the challenge of trying to do these landscapes justice. She sometimes likes to add metaphysical/surreal elements to her paintings too, because she thinks it's important to remember that everything in our world is so much more connected than we realise.

Emma studied graphic design, and is a completely self-taught painter who have always gravitated towards art-making because it runs through her whānau.

In 2020, she started delving more into illustration. The first big illustration job she was fortunate to work on was The Story of Swoop, which managed to hit #1 on the NZ Children's bestseller list. Since then, she has worked on a couple of other stories for NZ-based authors, but she intends to illustrate her own stories so she ca have greater creative freedom.

Emma really believes that creative expression is medicine.

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