Today we’d like to introduce you to Amy Stone.
Hi Amy, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I have a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Colorado and a Masters in Art Education from Hofstra University, but found myself doing everything but creating and teaching in my 20’s and much of my 30’s. It wasn’t until my family and I relocated to Seattle in 2014 that I began to create on a daily basis, and not until 2016 that I began painting again after an almost 15 year hiatus. I left my job in the wine industry in 2016 to focus on art full time, and haven’t looked back. Social media helped propel my career forward, but really it’s the support of my husband and kids that make it all possible.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The biggest obstacles and challenges I have found is life post-Covid and trying to navigate raising my kids as they get older while still finding the time and energy to focus on my business. I can make the art and then not have time to market it, or market the art and not have time to make it. It’s the balance of everything that I am always striving for.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am an abstract painter/ mixed media artist with a focus on abstract expressionism and the abstracted female form. Color is my love language and music is my muse. I do my best work intuitively, when I get lost in the process and something visceral takes over. Less thinking, more feeling = better painting.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
The only way to improve and move forward is to take risks. In art, in life. Joan Rivers once said, “I was smart enough to go through every door that opened.” Since I read this I have always taken it to heart. When I first started showing my work I would hang it anywhere anyone let me. Coffee shops, stores, wineries. Eventually I secured representation by a few galleries. How? By asking. Sometimes the biggest risks are ones you take by just asking. The worst thing someone can say is no. In this industry, no is something you learn to hear a lot of. But then when you hear a yes — whether it’s for a show, award, representation, selling a piece, we all do a little happy dance and the reward outweighs the risk.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.amystoneart.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/amystoneart
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/amystoneart
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-stone-ba57431/
Image Credits
Jennifer Markovitz