Here is a bit of my history and my story.

In April 2016 I graduated from Trinity Christian College with a Bachelors of Arts in Studio Art, along with two minors, business marketing and art history.

(Fun fact: I actually took more classes than required in my marketing minor because of my interest in the field, since there wasn't enough time to double major. Marketing is still an interest, but I have found helping customers with decorating the surfaces of their home is much more enjoying.)

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In my 4 years at Trinity, I was also a student athlete in Track & Field. Besides Art, Track is definitely a big part of my life. I have been in sports just about my whole life, but Track has been a biggest part of it.

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My first job out of college I worked in my favorite city, the city of Chicago. I worked for a email marketing company in the west loop for about a year and a half. That same summer of '16 I met the love of my life, who i married in 2018! In November '17, I moved on to a position with quite a bit more creativity as well as closer to home. This is where I have been since! I am working in a small business with an amazing boss. This job is a good mixture of sales and interior design, though in the home surfaces sense. We sell home surfaces and install. All types of flooring, window treatments, paint and more. It's wonderful because I am able to use some of my marketing knowledge as well as my creativity to help customers make their home beautiful. Currently (2022), I am working part time here and also being a full time momma which I'm loving every busy minute of.

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Now as I mentioned above I am rebranding! What does that mean? Well to be honest here life has been crazy  for me. From we planned our wedding, got married, house-hunting for 2 years, my husband joined the army and had probably close to a year and a half  to two years of being away at training (not all consecutively); We finally bought a house, which we are still renovating piece by piece. Adopted two dogs a year apart, a Golden Retriever, and a German shepherd dog. And most recently in May of 2021, My husband and I were blessed with the birth of our son! I haven't had a lot of time for my art. To say the least life has been busy and non-stop since 2016. I have dabbled in my art since. Day by day now I'm trying to get back into a rhythm of it..even with a growing little boy around our home.

This is where my rebranding hits. I am creating my own art brand under my married name "Emily Parpart" and creating my own business of being commissioned for art under a official business name of "Parkstra Art". What is "Parkstra"? My husband actually came up with the name with my literal history of my life in mind. Parpart, my married name is combined with Dykstra my maiden name. Two histories of my life and art experiences are bound together and represented (by name). Art has been constant during both phases of life, even if it has been more minimal than other moments, its been constant. Non-married and Married! So, bare with me as my newest adventure is juggling the many things of life as a new mom.

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Go explore! If you have any questions, would like to know more about what I do, what I have done thats not shown, or want to simply discuss art, I'm more than willing to chat!

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Thanks for visiting.

Emily Parpart

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ARTISTS STATMENT about my art

As you might have guessed, sports and art are my top two passions. And in some ways, they can go hand in hand with each other. (As seen in a few pieces of my work.) They both started blooming when I was young just as the stuff kids usually do to enjoy life and such; But, they have grown greatly to be influences of the person I am today. 

 

Art, marketing and sports have allowed me to grow in many ways. All in different directions as well as collectively, complementing and continually building my skills and expertise. All allowing me a unique skill set and a way to see what, or who, is around me under a different light. As an artist, this is a beautiful thing to have and use. It provides an quicker understanding of different perspectives, interpretations, thoughts, feelings etc. from others and things in the world, especially art. It helps motivate you to do great things, or adapt to what you see around you.

 

A phrase I learned in college was -- Don't be afraid to murder your darlings -- This means, don't be afraid to start over on your artwork, completely ruin, or have a friend splash a new random layer of paint or medias onto it. This phrase helped, helps, continually push my art to the next level and give me a new perspective.

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As an artist, I am immensely in love with colors. I'm intrigued by the vibrancy and subtly colors provide. Each displays it's own beauty, but a quite different aesthetic. With those choices, I have a huge preference for bright neon's. In a way, these vibrant, neon expressive colors could represent who I am as a person. My current interests have been these type of vibrant colors combined with the controllable, uncontrolled movements of dripping paint. Not only that, but I have been interested in patterns, those specifically correlating to mandalas (circle patterns) and the hidden meanings they can display. All correlating with how surfaces, building, can change interpretations. Another part is I love textures, both visual and actual textures.

These details can be seen in my college professional show, Dimensions (Click Here to see!).

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