Latest / Coffee People Podcast / RECAP: Coffee With Emily Lavalier, EmLavArt Artist
Transcript
- 0:26Hey everyone, welcome to the Coffee People podcast recap
- 0:29show. Thank you for being here and
- 0:31being a supporter of our Coffee People platform.
- 0:34I'm your host, Ryan Wolt. You can follow or subscribe to
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- 0:40of our episodes, links, and bonus content on
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- 0:48help us tell the stories of Coffee People.
- 0:52Coffee People is presented by Rostar Coffee Packaging.
- 0:55You can find them online at rostar.com.
- 0:57Check out rostar.com to find examples of the high quality,
- 1:00affordable, customizable packaging they offer for coffee,
- 1:04tea, snacks and beyond for 1/3 time.
- 1:07That's rostar.com. Our recent podcast guest Emily
- 1:12Lavaliere is a working artist who uses paper collage and mixed
- 1:16media to create pieces of art that frankly, I have several of.
- 1:21She also guides travel adventures that cater to people
- 1:24with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
- 1:27I'm here to recap that conversation with Emily in case
- 1:30you didn't have a chance to listen to the full pod or just
- 1:33want to reinforce a few important takeaways.
- 1:36For example, when Emily started, she wasn't seeing her style of
- 1:40art in the world. There was a place for it.
- 1:42She works to create high density collage out of paper, primarily
- 1:46magazines but some mixed media as well.
- 1:49And currently she's expanding into new forms of collage art,
- 1:52so be sure to check out her Suitcase series when that's
- 1:55available. She starts with the design in
- 1:58mind and then hunts through the collections for the right
- 2:01material in terms of color and texture, size and shape.
- 2:05If you watch our podcast, in the video version, you saw hundreds
- 2:08and hundreds of magazines stacked up behind her.
- 2:11I like the idea that the final piece of art that I'm seeing
- 2:14isn't actually what the materials were designed to
- 2:16convey. They've been transformed,
- 2:19reduced down into a component, and then reassembled to offer an
- 2:22entirely different experience both visually and emotionally.
- 2:26We have an original avocado as well as a few cocktail prints
- 2:29for our bar area. As for her work with Hammer
- 2:32Travel, I find great value in normalizing travel for people
- 2:36with intellectual and or physical disabilities.
- 2:39The approach at Hammer is that they are travellers first and
- 2:42happen to have abilities that require more foresight and
- 2:45effort during the planning and execution of the trip.
- 2:49Emily kind of pushed past it, but the Hammer Travel service
- 2:51also offers great value to people besides their travellers
- 2:55to others who come into contact with their group.
- 2:58It isn't their responsibility to do so or to be an example, but
- 3:01engaging with differently abled people often inspires others.
- 3:05It offers an example for other differently abled people and the
- 3:09support teams in their lives. It's a great reminder that we're
- 3:12all going through different things and we can all be there
- 3:15for someone else. Between the travel guide and
- 3:17artist roles, Emily uses quite a few overlapping skills like
- 3:21staying organized and thinking on her feet, being flexible with
- 3:24her expectation. Skills that I'm always trying to
- 3:27cultivate myself. And you probably are too.
- 3:30Working in the group home settings also helped Emily be
- 3:32more aware of challenges with the larger community of
- 3:35intellectual and or developmentally disabled people.
- 3:38In turn, she's been inspired to offer more grace up to the world
- 3:41around her. As for art, what makes for good
- 3:45or bad art? Is there even a thing that
- 3:47delineates the two? I think art encompasses the
- 3:50story of its creation and the emotion that it evokes.
- 3:53You might think it is only what you see in front of you.
- 3:56Please share your opinions on what is good or bad art.
- 3:58Share some examples in the comments or wherever you're
- 4:01listening. I'm curious to learn more about
- 4:03your thoughts. Well, I sip a cup of coffee.
- 4:07Is coffee art? Mind blown my friends, mind
- 4:13blown. As for Emily Lavalier's art,
- 4:16head to mlabart.com to see what she has available now.
- 4:19There is a shop there as well as a calendar of upcoming art shows
- 4:23where you can see her work in person as well as support local
- 4:26artists like her and others, which is always a good thing to
- 4:29do. Finally, when she's drinking a
- 4:31coffee, it's a black drip with a little cream.
- 4:34I don't consider myself an artist like Emily, I'm more of a
- 4:37creative tinkerer or raccoon who's always trying new things.
- 4:42Emily has found something she's passionate about and it comes
- 4:45out in her work. Success as an artist comes in
- 4:47many forms, so please take time to support local artists
- 4:51whenever you can. You can see her work where
- 4:54she'll be at an upcoming show. Purchase originals and prints
- 4:57again at mlabart.com. That, along with all the
- 5:02important links in this episode, will be in our podcast notes and
- 5:05in our Coffee People podcast and newsletter.
- 5:08If you're interested in learning more about travel opportunities
- 5:11for humans with intellectual and or developmental disabilities,
- 5:15head to hammertravel.org. What Emily does there, it's,
- 5:19it's a cool gig and one that takes a certain type of person,
- 5:22one who encompasses care and patience and a willingness to
- 5:25problem solve. Those are skills that I'm sure
- 5:27come in handy across the spectrum of her life.
- 5:30Even if you don't have someone in your life that might enjoy a
- 5:32trip, it's worth checking out the Hammer travel.org website
- 5:35and you can still support their efforts.
- 5:37We made an unsolicited donation to Hammer this week to kick off
- 5:40our 2026 giving effort. They have a big green give
- 5:44button you'll find on hammertravel.org.
- 5:47That's the recap of our episode featuring Emily Lavalier of M
- 5:51Lavart and Hammer Travel. You can watch or listen to the
- 5:54entire episode of the Coffee People podcast on most podcast
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- 6:11Podcast wherever you want to listen.
- 6:13All the important links are in the show's notes and you may be
- 6:17able to hear it, but that is the dog snoring in the background
- 6:19today. Thank you again to our friends
- 6:22and partners of the show, including Roast, our coffee
- 6:24packaging, Cibbetts Roasting machines, That's Cibbetts,
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- 6:32course, all of you, wherever you are, please tip your baristas
- 6:37and of course, drink good coffee.
- 6:40Cheers everyone.