1. Artist Statement
Diverse movements, forces, and transformations occur in the natural world. These continual
processes influence the layers and structures in nature over time to form unique and ever-
changing, but interconnected, events and environments. I decompose and then recompose the
physical and visual experiences that I encounter in nature to create my own personal experiences
of what I have witnessed and learned. Through this process I am able to create environments and
transformations that are inspired by actual events, but are recognized to form something new,
imaginary, thought-provoking, and whimsical.
I have different bodies of work that may vary in their visual appearance and artistic technique,
yet the underlying ideas are the same. The forms within these environments achieve numerous
identities through abstraction and constantly shift into other natural formations to create different
environmental interactions. In each body of work the environments can be understood from
several vantage points, such as frontal, aerial, microscopic, and macroscopic.
The traced monotype prints stand alone as a body of work and are also incorporated in the mixed
media "paintings", which combine printmaking, silkscreen, painting, and drawing. All of the
visual activity occurs on the surface of each painting, with the variety of media collaged together
to create the final composition.
My other body of work includes drawings, in which I use a mixed media process to layer several
drawings completed on semi-translucent paper. These drawings focus on the physical idea of
layered information in nature. Equally important concepts in the work are the ideas of
archeology, mapping, and the landscape. Another crucial component of each piece is the
application of a physical action, or verb, to each environment, which dictates the final imagery
and the titles of each piece.
Most recently, I have been exploring the idea of two-dimensional physical characteristics vs.
three-dimensional characteristics in my work with the addition of thread and sewing into
drawings and paintings. The concept behind the work is the same, but the physical act of
creating the work has changed.
With each work of art that I create, I want the final visual outcome to allow the viewer to
experience how mutability and shifting perceptions of the natural forms in each environment are
able to transform and exist on multiple levels.
Amy Richardson
2015