Amidst all the professional artist’s designs, one stood out among the rest. Emma Rowady ’22 is the youngest artist to submit a pop art design and have it be chosen for the Dogs Unleashed summer campaign.

Rowady’s passion for art has been with her from a young age, her father Paul Rowady said. He said she’d always been a doodler.

“Emma has a whole folder– a binder– full of her sketches,” Paul said. “She usually practices different facial features like eyes or noses. I’ve seen some of it and the eyes are incredible in her practices.”
Emma didn’t want her submit her design to Dogs Unleashed initially. She said she treated it as another way to practice and enhance her art skills.

“My art teacher, Ms. Plieth, she talked about it a bit in class,” Emma said. “Actually, I’d finished the last project so this was a random thing I did to pass the time. Then, (the Grosse Pointe Chamber of Commerce) called me randomly one afternoon and told me that my design had been chosen.”

The dog sculpture itself as not an easy task. Paul said the sculpture was due around finals week, so Emma was forced to pull some all-nighters in order to finish the dog design and studying.

“Her level of dedication was amazing to me,” Paul said. “When (she was chosen) I was speechless; I was just so proud. It was such a surprise because we weren’t expecting it to happen.”

Institute for Organization Management Chamber of Commerce president Jenny Boettcher said this was the first time students could submit artistic templates for a street art event. She said she was so excited Emma was chosen by Fisher Pointe Dental.

“We, (the Chamber of Commerce), were honored to have been able to celebrate and share her incredible talent with thousands of people,” Boettcher said. “I think Fisher Pointe Dental loved how dynamic, colorful and abstract her dog was.”

Emma was very surprised at the eventual success of her dog, saying she didn’t know how she was going to do it, but was confident she’d figure it out.

“It was just a really cool opportunity,” Emma said. “I’ve always been really interested in art, but didn’t start trying or get that good at it until middle school. This was definitely really cool.”

Boettcher added that the Dogs Unleashed project and events similar to it are a great way for residents to share their creative talents.

“(These fundraisers) are great way for the everyone to express themselves,” Boettcher said. “I think they really add to Grosse Pointe by being apart of it. Involvement from the community and while showing and sharing your talents is a great way to stay involved.”

Emma’s dog, Poppy, will be auctioned off at the Dog Days of Summer Auction, with the proceeds from the dogs being invested back into the community. According to Boettcher, they’ll go towards enhancing the urban tree canopy throughout the Pointes and creating a series of TV and Social Media commercials promoting the Pointe as a destination to ‘Shop. Dine. Play.’

“We also continue to encourage  students to get involved with the Chamber’s events,” Boettcher said. “Especially with fun events like the upcoming North vs.South Tailgate, the Grosse Pointe Santa Claus Parade and, of course, in the next street art project.”