Meet, Emily Little

Emily Little is an eclectic visual artist, writer, activist, and organizer of community events with over 3 years of experience in the Charlotte arts community. She is an active exhibiting artist in Charlotte, most recently recognized by her 2023 “Tiny Doors to Nowhere…(or Somewhere)” installations featured in the Charlotte International Arts Festival’s 100 Tiny Things exhibit. There she displayed seven uniquely charming doors constructed of balsa wood and clay only five inches tall, found intertwined with nature in Ballantyne’s Backyard and viewed by hundreds, if not thousands of CIAF attendants. In 2023 Little directed her first group collaborative piece in her original concept “A Sunday Afternoon in Charlotte” installation for CLT BOOM, displaying the works of 23 individual local artists to create one large 10’ x 6’ recreation of Georges Seurat’s “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.” The collaboration was hung from a shipping container at Camp North End for the duration of the BOOM festival and viewed by hundreds of attendees. Also in 2023 Little displayed three original works at Gatekeepers Beware 2.0 Gallery exhibit at the second most-viewed gallery in Charlotte, Petra’s Lounge, with hundreds more attendees viewing throughout the month-long exhibit. Possibly most notably, you may recognize Little by her quote displayed on the front steps of the Mint Museum from 2021 to 2022 reading “There is no rhyme or reason, your purpose is only to experience” taken from her submission to Charlotte’s 2021 “Of Earth and Sky” exhibit and also featured in her published poetry book entitled “Distorted Unity.” Little’s works, both written and visual, reflect her constant striving towards full authenticity in her works and her daily interactions, releasing the biases placed on us by society both conscious and unconscious, eliminating the fears and anxieties each situation creates, letting go of the tendency to please others, and bearing the beautiful and the ugly, the mundane and the profound, and every other concept of duality found in this reality. She specializes in creating mixed-media contemporary statement pieces depicting the paradoxical concepts of the human experience, and feels most inspired when interacting with other creatives and discussing how to improve the world and community. Little is passionate about her community, as well as sustainability, motivated to maintain a clean and healthy community through her regular volunteer work. She hosts monthly community trash cleanups through her group CLT Growth, and incorporates reusing and recycling of materials into as much of her art works as possible, generating as little waste as possible.