Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Amy Trieger. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Amy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
I have had many interests over the years, however, aside from the year or so I really wanted to be a marine biologist, they have all been creative. To me art has not been something I do as a hobby and/or professionally, it is more accurately a way of life. Only in recent years have I come to this realization, that the only reason I ever segmented it out into quantifiable categories, was because I was asked to by others.
Years ago, on a bit of a whim and in a moment of “what am I doing with my life?” I came across an ad about a graduate program in Arts Administration. And so I applied, and… got in. I tackled the graduate program with vigor and learned not just the nuts and bolts of the nonprofit world, but I learned about artists, what society thinks of artists, what one is told if you try to be an artist, what it really means to be an artist, the challenges that divide artists from “non-artists” and on and on.
The ironic thing was that the more I learned about the “business side of things” the less I felt like an artist. In fact, when I entered graduate school I had been training and performing as a dancer for 20 plus years and yet, identifying as an artist had privately become a challenge for me. An added layer of confusion was that I felt that I didn’t come from an “arts” family because no one in my family “did that” as a living (as if that were the true qualifier). I now felt divided, half artist, half administrator. So I looked at who I came from, to better understand myself.
I don’t come from a family of artists in the usual sense. My sister, a very successful civil servant and talented visual artist, has revamped the way her office serves the community by thinking creatively. My mother, a special education para-educator, always found the most creative ways to help her students learn, and she has the most beautiful penmanship of anyone I know. My father is truly a master of many trades, can build anything from the ground up, often creatively reusing old items in new ways, and is a gardener by birth. My grandparents on both maternal and paternal sides, crafted, sewed and grew things of the highest caliber while working the fields, building and rearing families. I come from a line of everyday workers who are also artists and craftsmen. People who straddle worlds as others defined them and turned their lives into art. In that moment I realized something that has shaped my work ever since.
Anything can be an art.
It’s not about the subject matter, it is about the mastery that develops over time, the attention to detail, the thoughtfulness in the craft. I then understood this divide I felt within myself, artist vs. administrator, was not the dying of one art, but the birthing of another. As I learned and experienced the divide between artists and administrators, I witnessed the pressure felt on both sides and how each hindered the progress of the very thing both were trying to safeguard, the art. I saw the need for people who straddled the divide and honored the possibility of the art of both worlds. I realized I was one of those people.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Originally from Kentucky, I have called Miami home for the last 20 years. I hold degrees from Goucher College and New World School of the Arts. I am a founding and current member of the contemporary dance company brigid baker wholeproject and co-founder of Buskerfest Miami, a community organization dedicated to improving civic life through public street performance in its 11th year.
Through my work as an archivist and my ongoing grassroots efforts to preserve cultural community identities, I have developed an insatiable curiosity for understanding the patterns of change in every community. I have worked in nearly every capacity of the theatrical world, and am at home in any theater. I have managed my family’s construction business and retailed artisan wares. I have worked with non-profit organizations and educational institutions, both historic and new, and have cultivated a large network of personal and professional connections.
Through the combination of my varied life and work experience I have come to realize at the root of every divide there are at least one of three things: fear, a lack of belonging and loneliness. And there is one thing that can bridge nearly every divide. Thoughtfulness. It may seem overly simple, but by definition, thoughtfulness does three things: it requires one to slow down, think carefully and anticipate the needs and wants of others. Whether it is helping a flourishing artist find new outlets for her art, merchandising a boutique, advising a non-profit on best practices, or crafting unique collage boxes for a loved one, my first aim is thoughtfulness. For this reason, two years ago I started Cozy Arts, a creative organization that offers services and products rooted in building bridges to connect the world to art and encouraging acts of love, one craft, one letter, one task at a time.
In addition to being a full-time professional dancer and mother, I work with artists, crafts(wo)men, small boutique businesses and non-profits offering services such as: Marketplace Curation, Boutique Merchandising, Seasonal Merchandising, Signature Product Development, Client Experience Improvement, Relational Customer Service Coaching, Storytelling-based Sales Training, Brand Cohesiveness Proofing, Event Planning + Production Advisement, Artist Statement Development, Creative Project Management, Collaborative Product Development, Organized Systems Creation, Retail Network Building, Wholesale Advancement, Collaborative Project Coaching and Creative Placemaking Initiatives.
And one last thing – through Cozy Arts, I also am the creator of a greeting card line that honors heritage crafts. I come from a long line of women who collected, sewed, crafted, cooked and kept heritage crafts alive as a way of life. In today’s modern world I feel I am constantly striving to retain these skills that keep me grounded so that I can bring love to my little corner of the world, and teach my daughter the beauty and strength in a woman’s hands. So… I create pattern collages with scraps of paper and turn them into products to help people take action in love. In my work and my life I am constantly reminded that when we put our hands to tasks, our hearts can shine.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
When asked about resilience I often share a story about resourcefulness because to me, the true nature of resilience is being able to adapt and that often requires being resourceful. I have been a gardener for as long as I can remember, but in my adult life my gardening in South Florida really took off about 9 years ago when my husband and I were able to purchase a house with a yard (previously I had been gardening on balconies and in pots). I was so excited to once again have land in which to put down actual roots. Little did I know there is something in south Florida that is unbelievably resilient. Chickens… what we lovingly call, the “wild chickens.” They dig up everything and anything that is freshly planted. At first I just kept re-planting. But I quickly realized I would have to up my game and get much more resourceful if I was ever going to have the garden I’d imagined. So I started with making borders of limestone rocks that I found around the yard. Then I mosaicked broken pieces of tile. I planted in hanging planters. I created barriers of chicken wire. I planted weeds to “hide” plants until they took root. The list goes on and on and I have to say that finally, I feel I have learned the ins-and-outs of what and when a chicken will choose to dig up, and the best option for protecting each type of plant. For the moment, I have the upper hand. For the moment. But what this has taught me is that my love for plants gives me the will to be resilient. And so it is true with anything that you love. You may ask why I didn’t just have the chickens “removed”? Well, because my love for animals supersedes my love for plants…
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
By definition, to thrive means to be in a constantly moving state, that has potential. For an ecosystem to actually thrive it requires balance of these constantly moving elements. Balance in the number of elements represented, the type of elements represented and the relationship between these elements. In terms of a creative ecosystem, these same scientific guidelines are true. And a reoccurring reason why creative ecosystems don’t flourish is because they are out of balance. So in my view, the first and most important thing that anyone can do (including artists) to best support artists, creatives and a thriving ecosystem is to – Take notice. Take notice and ask questions. What are the actual elements in the creative ecosystem? How diverse are these elements? Are there a lot of people doing the same thing? Offering the same service? What are the relationships between artists? Between artists and administrators? Between the art and the funding? Where are these relationships working? Where are they failing? We have a tendency as a society to repeat what has always been done and follow the paths that have been cleared, but stopping to actually take notice requires us to be vulnerable. It requires us to possibly admit we don’t know something, or that we are wrong, or that we are afraid of something. And, to be frank, I think there is a lot of pretend noticing going on in our world. People jump quickly to support issues or causes and they haven’t actually slowed down to pay attention. Often when we do, we see things we never saw, we understand from a different perspective, we may even change our minds!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.cozyarts.co/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cozyartsconnect
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-cozette-trieger-77226735/
Image Credits
Dance Photos: Justin Trieger All other photos are mine. (Except the childhood one, that was probably my mom or dad!)