Artist Statement
As a child, I used to love watching my dad play the point-and-click game “Myst”, although I was still too young to understand or figure out any of the puzzles. There was something about being dropped alone into a strange world that allured me. This game has been composited out of several influences, and Myst is not alone—the visual style is also inspired by Enya’s album covers, which to me evoked a similarly lonely and mysterious world.
The genre of fantasy is inextricably tied to religion and spirituality. No fantasy has ever successfully eschewed the supernatural—in fact, the more that magic is explained in a naturalistic light, the less magical that it is. The fantasy genre depends on spirituality, and its goals are spiritual.
We may believe that something exists outside of this world, but the goal of fantasy is to pull it out of the pages of some dry philosophical treatise and make it into something that people can feel and desire. Since God Himself is mysterious and unknowable, it is my opinion that any work of art which evokes that distinctive pain of longing for the mysterious and unknowable has done something important for the soul.
Bio
My name is Emily Lembke and I’m an artist, illustrator and writer who was raised in the Pacific Northwest. Beautiful Washington State is my home even though if, for a time, we are tragically separated.
As a Christian, I pursue excellence in everything I do including the visual arts. Jesus Christ is my life. As a writer, I focus primarily on fantasy, and I often make illustrations that go along with my books. In 2020 I finished writing the second book of a fantasy trilogy called The Valerian Chronicles. Keep an eye out for the first book, Shades of War, on a bookshelf near you!