Artist Statement:
My paintings express the joy of exploration and discovery - the joy of life with all its colors, shapes and textures; the joy of working with beautiful paints, brushes and collage, and watching in awe as paintings emerge and parts of me appear that I didn't know existed. My style reflects exuberant energy and a zest for life. The result is lively, bright and fun-loving non-objective and objective abstract art. It's life, as I know and feel it, which shows in my paintings. When people see my work I hope they connect with a playful, spirited place, where dreams are possible.
Collector's Comments:
"The texture and depth of Amy's work is what I love - combined with her fantastic use of color. Looking at her work makes me smile and wonder."
--S. Flynn, USA
"I hung Castle of Dreams in my living room and it looks great!!! I love it. It brings lots of color and pep."
--D. Todd, USA
"Painting arrived safely today! Thank you. It will go from here to my '"other" home, a remodeled eighteenth century farmhouse in Maine...it will be a wonderful addition."
--Lois Lowry, Author, USA
Looking At Abstract Paintings and Contemporary Art:
1. Free your mind. Refrain from trying to figure out what it looks like, what it's supposed to be. Be open to whatever it is you might see in a piece and be prepared for whatever reaction it stirs.
2. Start a dialogue. Looking at a work of art is a back-and-forth process. It's why different people react differently to the same piece of work. You bring something unique to the piece when you view it and that will influence your experience of the art. Parts of you are actually entering into dialogue with the artist and he or she is trying to communicate something through this medium.
3. Examine the elements. Look at the colors, shapes and textures. Pay attention to how the lines are drawn - are they precise, sloppy or something else? Think about what symbolic meaning each of the elements might contain. That’s…the language of artwork and the beauty of art - trying to express something you can't say in words.
4. How is it put together? Search for the structure in a piece, then hunt for places where the artist departs from that structure and improvises a bit. Like music - even jazz has certain basic elements, but the musicians stray from them and come up with their own spontaneous sounds that form a bigger picture.
5. Look internally. Ask yourself how the piece makes you feel, whether your reaction to it changed from the first time you saw it to the second or third. If you think it's beautiful, what makes it so? If you think it is disturbing, why?
--Kevin Lenkner, Exec. Dir. YorkArts, Daily Record/Sunday News, 1/27/05, J.Vogelsong
Definitions:
- Non-Objective Abstract Art is made up of forms and colors that exist
for their own expressive sake rather than depicting recognizable
scenes or objects.
- Objective Abstract Art is used to describe works in which
recognizable objects or figures appear, and are abstracted or
changed from their natural forms.
