The Art of Becoming: Emily Plank
PHOTOS BY JORDAN RANDALL
Sometimes it can feel like an epic love story when an artist finds what they were born to create for the world to see. It feels like home when as a creative you’re finally able to dive into a medium that truly connects with your soul—where every stroke of paint or snapshot of a photograph becomes the way you depict and share meaningful stories. While the creative arts industry continues to reflect timeless rhythms of artistic expression, it also is an ever-evolving world full of talents yet to be discovered.
For third generation Lakelander Emily Plank— a well known photographer and now artist gone viral—the journey to reaching the height of her work has itself been quite the creative process.
Over the last decade, Emily made a name for herself as a lifestyle portrait and events photographer in the Central Florida community. After she graduated with her Fine Arts degree from the University of Florida, she came back home to Lakeland to embark on a career in photography. With the aid of mentors like Jordan Weiland and Tina Sergeant, Emily began creating a business centered around capturing special moments behind the camera for others––everything from nonprofit events to weddings, engagements and everything in between.
“Both of my grandfathers were business owners, and deep down, I always knew I wanted to run a business, too,” shares Emily, as she recalls her entrepreneurial tenacity she started to develop at a young age. “If you wanted a business plan, I was your girl. I’ve always been business minded.”
She always loved helping others tell their stories, and through a series of events realized she had a platform to start telling her own.
After building a sterling reputation as a professional photographer, the year of the pandemic brought a turning point season of reflection where she would begin to reinvent herself as an artist and go back to her first love––painting.
“The seed had been planted before the world shut down. 2020 really forced my hand a little to step out from behind the camera to step in front of it,”
she admits.
She began to receive so many wedding cancellations (due to the pandemic) that she began to think outside of the box for her next creative endeavor. She actually put her camera away for 45 days.
“I had to figure out how to hustle all over again, and I started by picking up my paint brush again,” she explains.
During that year, a couple of key collaborations with local business owners became the launching pad into who Emily would soon become. In one of Emily’s college classes, students were tasked with creating renditions of a famous art piece from any era. She decided to paint a rendition of “The Girl with the Pearl Earring”—an oil painting masterpiece by Johannes Vermeer that dated back to 1665, the Dutch Golden Age.
Emily gifted this piece to her mother, who proudly showed off her daughter’s artwork to friends. One of those friend’s was Heidi Campbell, owner of Stationary Loft. Soon after, Heidi contacted Emily to paint an exclusive, small collection for Stationary Loft that is still available locally.
Olivia Jacoby, owner of The Southern Swan bridal boutique, heard about Emily’s talent from Heidi, and she reached out to Emily with an opportunity to collaborate on painting a bridal gown exclusively for her boutique. Using fabric acrylic paint, Emily painted a beautiful gown that was inspired by an idea Olivia came across from Martha Stewart. While the dress was breathtaking, the final product never gained much traction on social media.
In the summer of 2021, Molly Harvey, the daughter of the owners of Flower Cart Floral Shop in Lakeland, reached out to Emily. Molly was going to purchase a dress from The Southern Swan, and she wanted Emily to paint it for her.
This one-of-a-kind dress caused quite the stir on social media with thousands of people viewing and liking posts about it, and a number of people actually requesting custom dresses.
“My phone screen was so hot from how many notifications I was getting from social media. I remember sitting and realizing ‘Oh my! I think I’m going viral’ on my parents’ couch,” shares Emily with excitement. “I immediately continued to refine my process by experimenting and doing extensive research on fabric preservation.”
Since painting that custom wedding gown, Emily has painted 12 custom wedding dresses for others. She also crafted a custom jacket for up-and-coming country artist Kayley Bishop.
This moody swan painting will be featured as a giveaway on The Lakelander’s social media later this year. Follow us at @lakelandermag to keep an eye on the contest.
Today the Lakeland High School alum has built an engaged social media following that includes nearly 75,000 followers on Instagram. She has created custom designs exclusively to sell on her website. Her work has been celebrated and featured by People Magazine, Newsweek, Heartland Living, 100 Layer Cake and The Knot, to name a few.
Although she could not have predicted the direction her career would turn, Emily feels confident about the changes she has made. She still does occasional family photo shoots, but most of her time is spent painting everything from dresses to holiday decor to Florida-centric canvases to custom commissioned work.
“[Painting] fills my bucket. It gives me so much energy to paint, and [as I look back in retrospect], I think I always wanted to be an artist,” she acknowledges with a sure smile.
Not only has the 36-year old rekindled a passion, she has turned it into a profitable career—which is not something she takes for granted.
“There was always this stigma growing up that said ‘an artist is a starving artist.’ It’s why I never really thought of painting [as my bread and butter] until the opportunity came to truly share this part of who I am as a creative,” she continues.
Part of her joy as an artist includes also giving back to the community she calls home. For example, following Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, Plank donated 100% of proceeds of any purchases of her #FloridaStrong art and apparel to United Way of Central Florida’s Hurricane Relief.
“I’m so excited and hopeful for what’s coming. I’ll be releasing handcrafted patterns I’ve made in collaboration with East of These to release headbands very soon. My hope is to also apply my art design onto other products and make them available online for purchase (such as t-shirts, tee towels, coffee mugs, painted wedding accessory lines, and more),” she shares.
In addition to continuing to develop her revenue stream on Instagram, Emily wants to continue inspiring others through her art. With 10 years of entrepreneurial passion under her belt, Emily’s authentic determination and deep love for what she produces will continue to shine brighter as she continues to color the world in her own way.
Kayley Bishop, an up-and-coming musician in the Nashville music scene, sported a jacket at a live show that was custom painted by Plank and that honors one of her hit songs.