An Artwork Series and Book
By Artist Emily Lupita
Summary of the Art Project
Emily Lupita and her two brothers had a magical childhood in rural Iowa, filled with the stories and mythology. While her latest artwork series focused on this aspect of her past, Emily Lupita’s next art project will tell the story of her vision for the future. This proposal is to fund a series of artwork paintings that show a wilder, more beautiful, more biologically diverse, and more enduring Mississippi River Watershed. Told from the perspective of the “Lupita” signature character, the series will illustrate a time beyond animal domestication, with rivers running wild-clean-free, with apex predators and keystone species living across our landscape, and with a less consumptive, less mobile, less controlling human population which has been liberated by allowing more freedom for that which lives around us.
This is the story of Rewild-Regenerate-Conserve, Reconnect-Restore-Rewild, Cores-Corridors-Crossings-Communities that exhibits Emily Lupita’s passion for wildness. It will focus on the entities in the Iowa natural world who are beyond human and the way humans interact – or could interact – with these entities. Examples include apex predators, flora and fauna, keystone species, and flowing rivers that make up the foundation of our Iowa environment.
Emily Lupita will create a series of watercolor paintings in her unique signature style that
depicts this vision for 2070. She will use vibrant colors and interesting mixtures of perspective and space to convey the power and beauty of the natural world. The paintings will be the basis for an art book, which Emily will write and publish, that will further convey this vision.
I Believe in Seeds: Affirmations for Rewilding
Emily Lupita’s new book is now available for order as an 8.5×8.5-inch softcover on Amazon.
Art Gallery
Community Outreach and Access
Emily Lupita believes that educating our youth about the natural environment is an absolute priority, so that they may become passionate guardians and dedicated stewards of our planet.
To support this belief, Emily Lupita will donate a copy of the finished book to every elementary school in Monroe County, Iowa. Emily Lupita will also exhibit these finished paintings on the BeWildReWild.org website, which is free and open to the public.
It is the artist’s hope that the paintings and art book will inspire young readers and adults alike to become interested in learning more about how they can contribute to the effort to save our planet by reducing waste, redefining success in America, and respecting the power and beauty of our Mother Earth.
Resources
Equipment including an iPad Pro with Apple Pencil will be needed to complete the project. The final canvas prints will be ordered and printed from a professional printing company. The finished artwork will be displayed online on the www.BeWildReWild.org website, which is free to access and open to the public. The finished book will be available for purchase online on Emily Lupita’s website. Emily Lupita will package and mail a free copy of the finished book to every elementary school in the Albia School District, her hometown school system in Monroe County, Iowa.
Budget
• Painting Supplies: In-kind Donation Match from Emily Lupita
• Formatting, Editing, and Publishing of the Accompanying Book = In-kind Donation Match
from Emily Lupita
• Hiring an Hourly Respite Caregiver: (to care for Emily Lupita’s two disabled sons while
she works) = In-kind Donation Match from Emily Lupita
• Artist Hours – Emily Lupita: 20 paintings x 10 hours per painting = 20 hours x $25/hour =
$5000
Total: $5000
Artist Bio
Emily Lupita is an award-winning artist and poet from rural Southern Iowa. Her unique artwork style is composed of vivid colors and chaotic textures mixed with solid black lines. Emily Lupita has shown her artwork and books at many art shows and festivals in the United States and in Japan. Emily Lupita’s four published art books are: Water and Stone, The Artist’s Alphabet, Wonderful You, and A Childhood in Nature. Emily Lupita is the founder and editor of Emily Lupita Studio Press, a small independent publishing house she created to publish books that express joyful wonder of the world.
Emily Lupita has numerous writing and poetry publications from national journals, including The North American Review, The Atlanta Review, and the anthology, Writers Without Borders. Her awards include the Pearl Hogrefe Award for Creative Writing from the English Department at Iowa State University and the Faulker Award for the Poem. She holds a BA from Central College in Pella, Iowa, and an MFA in Creative Writing and Environment from Iowa State University, with thesis advisor, Professor Debra Marquart, Iowa Poet Laureate. Emily Lupita has received grants from the BeWildReWild Fund at Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation and the Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities at Iowa State University. Emily Lupita writes a blog about her art & writing at www.EmilyLupita.com.