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Naturally Inspired: A Conversation with Paper Florist Emily Paluska
In celebration of Earth Day, the great outdoors, and the need to light your creative spark, Neenah recently announced the Design Your Nature contest. The idea is to flood Instagram with beautiful imagery of nature inspired masterpieces designed using only upcycled materials found in and around your home. Your creation could win you $250-$1000!
We interviewed Instagram influencers for their tips on creating beautiful botanical designs using paper and other upcycled materials. Their channels are filled with gorgeous, botanical inspiration sure to set you on the right path. We’ll be featuring each of them over the next few days. Happy scrolling and happy designing!
Design Your Nature: Featuring Emily Paluska
Emily Paluska, botanical artist and owner of Revery Paper Flora, has always had a love for botanicals, but doesn’t really have a green thumb to match. As a resident of DC, she prefers to admire the gardens on Capitol Hill to growing her own, but has found a way through paper to bring a bit of nature home. She was recently quoted as saying, “Seeing a flower in real life is what triggers my creativity and desire to recreate it in paper.”
Her incredible nature-inspired work has been featured in HGTV magazine and can be found in specialty shops across the United States. For someone with so much success, she is very accessible through her monthly (sold-out) workshops and a stream of beautiful designs on both Instagram and her website. Her approach to art is entirely by design.
Art is for Everyone
Paluska is a believer in making art and creativity accessible for more people. Early in her career, she worked at and managed Michelin star restaurants. She noticed that not everyone was able to get a seat at the table. A longtime fan of Anthony Bourdain, she currently uses his methodology to inspire the way she runs her workshops, tutorials, and communications.
“Bourdain had a philosophy. It doesn’t matter if it’s a street cart in the middle of nowhere or a major restaurant in the middle of the city, good food should be accessible for everyone. I follow that same mantra. I think there is a seat at the table for everyone, even if you’re not an artist. The growth of DIY makes art more available to all types of people. Art is really anything that you want it to be,” comments Paluska.
“Art should be inclusive and creating botanicals is no expection.”
Emily Paluska
Continues Paluska, “You don't need fancy paper or paints, you can find all the materials you need in your home. Old chopsticks from a take out dinner can become a stem, coffee filters become petals and plain old food coloring and some choice spices from your cupboard will help bring these simple elements to life. Let the natural world inspire you but don't let it limit your imagination.
The path to creativity is sometimes covered in thorns.
She acknowledges that the current pandemic makes creativity seems impossible at times, but that it is also a very healing process. Paluska is open about struggles with dark times and how finding a creative outlet literally saved her life.
Says Paluska, “After the birth of my oldest child, I was desperate for an outlet that had nothing to do with my new role as a mother. I was merely existing and flailing in the depths of postpartum depression. In my darkest hour, I needed something to hold onto and making paper flowers in the floor of a nursery ended up being it. I made a paper flower every day for a year. It became a ritual. The ultimate self care. I had finally found light amongst the darkness.”
The key to pulling yourself out of that darkness could be finding creativity in moments where you don’t feel creative and connecting even when it’s difficult to connect. Paluska states, “When I first started hosting workshops, people would ask me what my story was and why I started doing this. I started sharing my story about postpartum depression during my workshops and after I would get emails from attendees who said that I helped them in various ways. That is very rewarding to me.”
Although in-person workshops are preferred, currently, her workshops have gone digital and they continue to sell out. It’s not hard to see why, Paluska’s genuine nature, practical advice, and stunning designs sound like an awesome combination.
Creation to exist and connect
“In my workshops, I told attendees that when I was struggling, it was amazing to have something to do. I worked with my hands to stay busy. Some of the most famous artists of all time were deeply depressed and most of their well-known art came from a really dark place. I want people to know that you don’t have to be a tortured artist to make art. It’s actually really healthy for you to use parts of your brain that you don’t always use past elementary or middle school. You are offered art in school, but you have to make a choice to participate as an adult. It’s good for you to use that creative part of yourself,” says Paluska.
Continues Paluska, “Today’s world is so digitized that you can almost become disembodied when you lose yourself in technology. While I admit, being in a pandemic can be depressing or isolating, through art you can ground yourself and remind yourself that you really exist. Without people to connect with physically, it can be hard to remember that you just simply exist. When you focus on creating something three-dimensional, you feel anchored and it’s proof that you’re really here and this is really happening. That’s what helped me before and that is what is continuing to help me through this time.”
There’s no right time for art.
She believes there is no right time to get started with art. “I started doing this later in my life. There was a time when nothing creative was happening in my life and that was the darkest time I can remember. My art saved me. It’s really important to find something and hold onto that. I am very focused on this as my passion, but it could be anything. People just need to find that one thing and it doesn’t even need to be traditional art. Writing, gardening, music or anything that makes you feel good. When people leave my workshops having a blast making something, they are sometimes surprised by their own creativity. That’s the best way to feel," concludes Paluska.
Emily’s workshops are sold out for the month of May, but there is still space available for her June virtual classes. Learn more.