Meet Emily Barrett
Born and raised in New Orleans, LA, Emily began her art career as a toddler, with finger painting and glitter glue among her earliest memories. After high school, she left NOLA for Nashville where she received a BA in English with a minor in Design Communications at Belmont University. During college she was fortunate to study abroad in London and travel Europe with a camera in hand at all times, which kickstarted her journey as a photographer. After graduating, she started her career as a photography and design freelancer shortly landed her first role as an internal graphic designer / marketing specialist.
After eight years of living and working in Nashville, she chose to realign her goals as the world took a chaotic turn during 2020. She made a big move to the West Coast to attend a post-baccalaureate residency program in Graphic Design at Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, OR. Her proudest career moment to date has been working as an in-house Senior Digital Designer at Dr. Martens, a brand she’s grown quite fond of for their approach to elevating minority voices and giving a platform to passionate arts-related communities.
Outside of work, she is a self-proclaimed food and nature geek—both of which are present in her work—and her keen eye for detail and contrast shine through in her style. She thinks food and nature connect people on an emotional level, allowing them to relate culturally and spiritually even if they’re from vastly different places and backgrounds. She curiously explores new worlds within her everyday life and continuously brings color and experimentation to the forefront of her practice.
Making her younger self proud, she dabbles in a variety of activities, including pottery, gardening, knitting, film photography, crafting, hiking, and being a full-time plant and dog mom. She is always searching for her next creative medium to explore, whether it’s cooking something exciting or taking on a new artistic endeavor.
The brand name Cactus Queen Studio came about in 2020 when Emily took the leap of faith to move to city she’d never visited. To her, a cactus embodies a form of resiliency, being able to withstand harsh climates and bloom the most extraordinary flowers when the time is right. Her resiliency through some of life’s most challenging struggles have made her the artist she is today and she is proud to have found meaning in that growth.