Up-and-coming young artist Emma knows in life you must grab your opportunities when they come along.

So, when the 20-year-old was asked to make her mark on one of Teesside’s historic tourist attractions, she jumped at the chance.

Now she gets to see her work on display in the new Open Store at Preston Park Museum. The Open Store is located within The Spence Building, which opened in September following a multi-million-pound extension and wider improvements across the park.

Emma was commissioned by the museum to create a bespoke piece of artwork to commemorate the ‘Decluttering Preston Park Museum’ project, an initiative for which the museum received a £237,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Thanks to National Lottery players, this vital support enables the museum to continue developing and enhancing its collection, so it better reflects the changing needs of its communities and represents a broader range of people’s histories and experiences.

“It is exciting to know my work is on show and will now play a small part in the museum’s own history,” said Emma who, never afraid to turn her hand to an artistic challenge, puts part of her creative streak down to hours spent drawing and crafting as a child in hospital.

Diagnosed with a rare brain tumour at 11, she explained: “I have always been a creative person, but it was in hospital that I started to do it more regularly.”

Immediate surgery was followed by the best part of two years spent in and out of hospital undergoing radio and chemotherapy.

Looking back at the impact on her and her family, she said: “It was something that we didn’t expect but it was something we had to embrace and just get on with.”

Today, happy and healthy at 20, she added: “The treatment was very intensive but successful.”

Emma is left with some long-term side effects including fatigue, but perhaps most importantly, she has hung on to that drive to create.

She is now accessing a supported internship work placement at the museum, delivered through Stockton Riverside College.

The unique programme for young adults with an education health and care plan offers Emma the chance to build her confidence and employability skills, in a work environment that indulges her creative passion, while working towards a King’s Trust qualification.

It also put her in prime position when the museum team looked to commission an acknowledgement panel for the store display.

Councillor Lisa Evans, leader of Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, said: “We are proud to offer this opportunity to aspiring artists like Emma. She pitched her ideas to the museum staff, who were really impressed.

“Because of Emma’s supported internship at the museum, the team was able to get to know her and call on her creative abilities. It’s another example of how we can help young people get the experience they need to get into work.”

Repurposing a piece of oak that had been through the decluttering process, she used pyrography skills to emblazon on to the wood a hand drawing of Preston Park’s iconic winter garden.

Emma, who last year also saw her handy work feature on a commemorative quilt to celebrate the bicentenary of Stockton and Darlington Railway, added: “I am quite pleased with the result.”