Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Tucker.
Hi Emily, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I am originally from LA, but I moved to the east coast to pursue musical theater. I had spent a couple years working for Disney Cruise Line as a performer in their MainStage shows straight out of high school. I had completed my time at sea, and was deciding whether I wanted to go to school. Long story short, I never decided to move to NYC, it just happened and I was just making decisions as they came. “Doin it live!”, as my best friend says. I was successfully working in Musical theater, and traveling around the country when I was invited to a paint and sip studio. I almost didn’t go because I “did not paint”. Spoiler, I went, and discovered not only could I paint but felt like I MUST paint? Like I had just unlocked a whole new side of my brain, and soul. It sounds so dramatic, but when you think you have limited skills your entire life, then to discover such potential as an adult- it shakes you.
I started with acrylic and eventually I crossed over to watercolor and thats where it got interesting. I started to carry it with me everywhere. At some point a couple of years into this new found love, I participated in a fundraising event that featured art of all kinds, and different disciplines were blended in creative ways. Well, I had two now! Theater and painting. I knew I wanted to donate something to the auction and I created my first ever “sheet music art” piece, a blue bird on the title page of “a bluebird singing in my heart”. So simple, didn’t think much of it, someone bought it at the fundraiser, and next thing I knew people were asking if I took requests? Fast forward to now, I have a partnership with one of Broadways biggest news outlets Broadway World, have raised thousands for charity, an etsy shop, a brick and mortar selling prints, an assistant, and a 6 figure business.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Because I never set out to start a business, everything was very improvised and learned as I went. Which honestly, I highly recommend. I feel like it was probably less daunting that way. I think if I had set out for this to happen, it would have felt too hard and I may have just let it fall to the wayside, it would have been way easier. It is still wicked hard, and I am constantly putting out fires while also trying to grow. Things get damaged in shipping, people steal my art and sell it, not to mention how much money you have to invest in the production side of things in the hopes that people will want it after you spend all that money and time just to get it out on the market? The imposter syndrome is constant, no matter how big and successful- my biggest struggles are usually created by myself. My brain is a strong, anxious, lying, beautiful b*tch with all the power to destroy it all at any point. But I do not let it because my brain is also brave, smart, determined, and delusional when it comes to potential.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am the owner and creator of EGT Sheet Music Art. I create custom pieces of art based off images and paired with the music that is associated with that memory, event, experience, or show. Music is one of those universal things that everyone has an association with, something we have in common. Our brains associate certain songs with memories, life’s big moments, and even people. Sheet music art is a physical celebration of those “bookmark” moments in life.
As a theater performer myself, I am very proud of the thousands of other thespians who have fallen in love with my Broadway-themed prints. My work is sold at Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Drama Book Shop” and online via my Etsy shop. Sometimes people ask me, why no faces. I have a couple answers. First of all, its not my strength I lead with, am I capable? Sure. But it would take hours and hours more to do them, and I would never feel really at peace with the way it looks using watercolor as a medium on such a small canvas(paper title page). Second, theater is magical because so many relate to it. When we watch tv, movies, theater we put ourselves into the story. That is why we get lost in it, we imagine ourselves in those scenarios. When it comes to MT specifically, no one owns a character not even the person that originates it. It can “belong” to anyone and no one. Faceless art allows people to put themselves into the roles without feeling like they are stepping into any one person’s image.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.emilygracetucker.com
- Instagram: @emilygracetucker
- Other: ETSY: EGTsheetmusicart
