Emil Ferris

I have a profound interest in embroidery, as I have female ancestors on both sides who embroidered their way through great trials.

I was illustrating, and I was cleaning people's houses; I was doing whatever I could to take care of my kid as a single parent.

I kept notebooks as a kid, and they were important to me.

Silent films weren't so different from my comics - the basic choice both offer an artist is what do you show and what do you tell.

I get afraid of the dark if I'm in a great deal of dark, and I have to move around inside of that fear... But there is a chance that something... will talk to me from the dark, so I have... to be prepared for that communication, which has happened.

Being seen is important for people. Doesn't happen enough for anyone. We're not here long in this world.

I learned how not to be alone in the playground.

I still do love monsters. And when I was a kid, they were really important to me. I couldn't wait for Saturday night.

There's the way that light shows in darkness, and it is extremely beautiful. And I think it essentializes the experience of being human, to see light in darkness.

I fell asleep once while washing dishes. I hallucinated prolifically - like, squirrels knitting whole sweaters! It was like my dreams inserted themselves in my waking life.

Yes, doing a work, telling a story very much represents a way to save my own life, and on so many levels.

My parents met at the Art Institute of Chicago as students, and somewhere in there, they procreated off to the side and created me.