Bio:
Amy studied art at Carnegie Mellon University, University of Colorado, Philadelphia College of Art and San Francisco Art Institute before she earned a BFA in painting from the University of Idaho. Her career began in wildlife illustration. Painting for gallery shows and commissions followed. Some of her large-scale watercolors are in the collections of The Boeing Company, Pepsi, Sea Ray Boats, Colorado National Bank, Bell South, Coca-Cola, Sheraton Hotels, and others. Amy taught drawing and painting at TESC and has taught watercolor privately for decades.
Artist Statement:
After decades of painting scenes from nature, illustrating field guides, creating ecosystem posters, painting birds in their environment, and teaching, I’ve been drawn over the past ten years to pare my imagery to rocks and water - the solid amid the fluid, the seemingly permanent amid agents of erosion. Two things triggered this choice - the ongoing human and geophysical disruption of the natural world, and, a desire to more closely capture my experience of the seen and unseen layers of life energy…the shifting ground.
My process begins with a drawing from nature which I use as my reference. At a certain stage of painting, when it starts to come together, I divide it into sections based on seeing small compositions within the larger whole. As I rearrange these, I look for existing connections and opportunities to develop new connections among the pieces while painting the assemblage to completion. Marks on paper find new juxtapositions and layers. Additional pieces might be affixed on top. This process more closely captures what I see and my felt experience of disorder breaking the surface of calm perception.
In a time of so much greed driving destruction of habitat and pervasive climate injustice, I paint to celebrate the beauty around us, to acknowledge the human connection to all forms of life, and to witness the sacred.