BIO

Amy received her BFA from Ringling College of Art in Sarasota, Florida, MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, and an MA art history degree from Prescott College in Arizona.

All degrees are specifically focused on printmaking, because, honestly, it’s the best of all art forms. Amy has taught printmaking and watercolour in the Omaha metropolitan area, at haney studio, the Joslyn, MCC, Kent Bellows Studio, and University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Amy’s work is in private collections in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, Microsoft Corporation, and University of Wyoming Art Museum. Several of her illustrations have been published in a handful of Chronicle Books, and she’s represented at Anderson O’Brien Fine Art in Omaha, Nebraska.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Printmaking is a process in which a drawing is created on a matrix. The matrix could range in materials such as wood, stone, or metal. Using a printing press, the matrix is repeatedly run through under great pressure to create multiple original prints.

I enjoy the technical processes, complicated planning and meditative repetitiveness found in printmaking. The steps taken to create each individual print involves methodical and efficient procedures to develop a cohesive edition of images and ideas. My meditative process is experienced in the rhythm of the carving, inking, and printing. I become immersed in the process, and all thoughts and distractions fall to the wayside.

I incorporate birds, insects and animals into my work. I enjoy the personalities that come across with their postures, gestures, colors and shapes. Working in various formats and printmaking processes allows me to explore multiple ways of representing my subject matter. Woodcuts visually lend themselves towards commanding and bold images, while intaglio looks delicate and, at times, intimate.

I find birds to be an interesting subject matter because everyone has a connection to them in nature, as an icon, or spiritually. I’m drawn to birds because of their unattainability and their adaptability. They balance their lives between land, water and sky. Birds are beautiful creatures that are both powerful and vulnerable.

I like to work on projects that are challenging in some form, such as multiple matrices or combining techniques. A printmaker at heart, I do find watercolour equally stimulating. My subject matter is based on observing and studying aspects of nature, then imposing my visual filter, humor, and aesthetic interpretation.