Twist
Lakeside Smokes
Christian Growth
Emily Witt is currently a Playwriting major at DePaul University. She is originally from Wilburton, Oklahoma. Yes, as in “Wilbur” from Charlotte’s Web.
For “Twist,” she was inspired by her time working at a hotel in Stillwater, Oklahoma. It felt like for two solid weeks, she had to corral terrified hotel guests and catch water with buckets in the lobby because the roof constantly leaked. She has been in a few tornadoes in her life, and what she remembers most is the clouds rolling out from the purple sky.
“Christian Growth”: the artist spent her summers with her great-grandparents at their home on the prairie. They lived through the Dust Bowl and my grandpa travelled from Oklahoma to California and lived in a Shanty Town. He later joined the Navy and contracted one of the worst recorded cases of skin cancer seen in history. Her grandmother would apply Covergirl to his “spots” before he could go to church every Wednesday and Sunday.
“Lakeside Smokes” is a portrait of the artist’s father loosely based on a picture taken about 5 years ago at a diner at the lake. She went through many phases with this one. She gave this to him for his 42nd birthday.