When facing a badly stained chair, three tired mirrors and a door in desperate need of a facelift, Lulu Emanuele didn’t flinch.

They reached for a paintbrush. 

Asked about painting on fabric, glass and wood, the Firestone Community Learning Center senior offered a confident response. 

The result? A once-disgraced kitchen chair, dull and ruined, was reborn, inspired with a whimsical wash of green tones, a playful pear and a cheeky checkerboard.

The mirrors? Portals of creativity.

Door re-do? Plans are pending, but hearsay indicates it’s on the brink of artistic enlightenment.

Lulu Emanuele plans to study at Kent State University to one day serve as an art therapist.
Lulu Emanuele plans to study at Kent State University to one day serve as an art therapist. (Patricia Sheahan / Signal Akron)

Emanuele takes inspiration from animals and nature; they also enjoy a keen interest in dark subjects. Their favorite mediums and tools are acrylic paint (the friend of quick-drying visionaries) and paper cutting, which is not for the faint of hand.

Working with the Firestone CLC art student led to a conversation about future plans. For beyond the paint-stained studio tables and paper trail of hand-cut designs lie deeper intentions. 

Art can heal spirits.

Emanuele and their mother, Kirsten, went down a rabbit hole of career research and stumbled upon art therapy, the perfect marriage of talent and purpose. Makes sense. After all, Emanuele grew up loving art, experimenting with art at Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts. 

Now, with their sights set on Kent State University, they’re preparing for the next brushstroke of life.

Akron in 330

The jewel of Akron is its people. They’re vibrant and resilient. Flawed, yet thoughtful and nurturing. And all of them come with compelling stories. That’s why we launched “Akron in 330.” This series offers a glimpse into everyday folks’ journeys across our many neighborhoods — 330 words at a time. Know someone we should consider? Tell us here.

From repurposing embarrassing furniture to reimagining futures, Emanuele proves art is not just color on canvas or paint on paper – it’s about intention and devotion to a career created by your own two hands.

“When I was refinishing that old chair and framing those three mirrors,” they said, “I realized I wasn’t just covering up flaws. I was looking for the beauty underneath, and that’s exactly what I want to do as an art therapist: Help people take the broken pieces of their lives and rework them into something strong and beautiful.”

A brush in hand. Compassion in heart.

Broken pieces. New beginnings.

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Patricia Sheahan is a professor, student teacher supervisor, installation artist, educational consultant for the integration of the arts across all disciplines and a freelance writer. Sheahan enjoys more than four decades of education experience at K-12 schools in New York and Pennsylvania and higher education at Seton Hill University, the University of Pittsburgh, Duquesne University, Penn State and most recently the University of Akron. Her favorite courses to teach are Social Justice Through the Arts, Ethics, Introduction to Critical Education, Classroom Management and Integrating the Arts K-12. Interests include visiting the Akron Art Museum, Akron Library, Civic Theatre, walking downtown to view murals and window light installations plus the stunning flower and plant arrangements, antiquing, especially from her own vendor space at The Brothers North Antiques in Medina. She also frequents Akron restaurants and local boutiques, travels and spends time with her family; a daughter and her newly blended family in North Canton, a son and his family in San Diego and a son in Dallas.