Staff Spotlight: Emma Hindall
Congratulations to our very own Emma Hindall, who is now a published illustrator and the illustrator of our A Year with Frog and Toad image! Emma works at the Museum & Theatre as a Visitor Engagement Assistant, helping to greet visitors, check families in, and stamp kids' hands as they enter the museum. She loves interacting with kids as part of her job, and admits it’s hard seeing kids cry because they do not want to leave at the end of their visit.
Emma pulls inspiration from her job at the front desk into her illustrations: “Before, I had this vague memory of what it was like to be a kid. Now, I’m getting better at drawing kids as kids, not just tiny adults.”
Maddy’s Theatre was lucky to have Emma illustrate the image for A Year with Frog and Toad! The wonderful illustration will be used for posters, playbills and marketing materials for the theatre production. Emma’s illustration process began by rereading a few Frog and Toad books and drawing sketches of Frog and Toad in her own art style. Next, she created the digital artwork, combining the drawing with her own photos and prints to add colors and textures. Emma said it was challenging to find a good way to distinguish between Frog and Toad and in Museum & Theater fashion she ended up doing some research: “I did a little research and learned lots of differences between the two species- for example, frogs are usually smoother than toads and their legs are longer, whereas toads have shorter legs and are rougher and bumpier.”
As a freelance Artist, Emma said this assignment was a dream come true with clear parameters and lots of creative freedom. The illustration will also be incorporated into the marquee design that will hang outside Maddy’s Theatre during the show run. This created added pressure because Emma sees the marquee when she works at the front desk. She said “I’m so excited to see my illustration up in the lobby- but I’m also nervous! I had this thought in the back of my mind the entire time I was working on it that I had to LOVE what I came up with, because I knew it was going to be hung next to my workspace for a month. Thankfully, I was able to create something that I’m proud of!
Her first book as a published Illustrator is called Please Read to Me, written by Pam Leo. The whole poem is about why you should read books to kids, even if you only know a few words, even if it's a picture book or a book on tape. Author Pam Leo is the founder of the Book Fairy Pantry Project, a nonprofit organization leading a grassroots family literacy movement, delivering books to families via food pantries and WIC offices. The book will be distributed across the state, and already there is a copy in every library in the state. You can find the Museum & Theatre’s copy (generously donated by Pam Leo), in Mellisa’s Seaside Cottage by Our Neighborhood on the second floor.
Emma is glad that her first published book has such an important and relevant message. “You have to get a check-up at the doctor every year, but nobody makes you get a check-up at the library.” This book works to emphasize the importance of reading, which has a profound impact on the development of young brains. This is a message that is relevant to everyone.
Emma wants to illustrate more books for kids, especially for kids who are often not reflected in children’s books, or who have diverse experiences. At the same time she wants to make sure the characters in her books are doing totally normal kids things. “I want to make books with kids that look like them or that have problems like them. I want to make books about kids that are doing what kids do - who also happen to be wearing a hijab, or rocking their natural hair, or playing with the other kids on the playground from their wheelchair. .” Diversity is a theme in her artwork and she says “If I’m creating something that goes out into the world, I want it to be inline with what I think the world is missing. Things I don’t see enough in the world. I love being an artist. Any art I do can be part of that bigger picture. Everytime I share my art it is progress, just on a very small scale.”
Accessibility and inclusion also impact and inspire her work. Emma draws on her own experiences to highlight the beauty in diversity and importance of welcoming all identities. She reflects, “Some of it is because I need it - I’m neurodivergent and I have sensory processing issues. It’s important to pay attention to work by disabled artists, because our perspectives enrich the conversation. If everyone was the same, the scope of everything would be really bland. If everyone is different it reflects the real world!”
Working at the Museum & Theatre gives Emma hope for the future and inspiration for her art. She recounts seeing a big footbally dad come with three boys, one in a tutu, “That gave me so much hope for the future. Things like the book project, and art - now that kid is out there. The whole idea that everyone belongs here. Coming to the Museum & Theatre gives you that hope.”
Please check out Emma Hindall’s art at emmahindall.com/ and www.instagram.com/emmahindall/!