Amy Rice

For the past ten years I have used traditional and nontraditional print-making methods--including hand cut stencils and a Japanese screen printing toy called a Gocco printer--as a starting point for original mixed media pieces. I use enamels, acrylics, gouache, and inks, and print my original drawings on antique papers (preferring handwritten love letters, envelopes, journal pages, sheet music and maps), on fabrics and on clayboard panels. I often use the prints on paper and fabric as collage elements to form larger pieces.

I am most satisfied when I can make a tangible or visceral connection between the materials used and the image rendered. My work is deeply layered, often both literally and figuratively. My imagery--nostalgic and wistful--is largely biographical and reflective of my pensive nature.

I am as inspired in my art by childhood memories of growing up on a Midwestern farm as I am the urban community in which I now live. I am inspired by bicycles, street art, gardening, random found objects, pattern and color, collective endeavors that challenge hierarchy, acts of compassion, downright silliness, and things with wings.