We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ama Adams a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Ama, thanks for joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I’m from a very small town in Kansas, where people don’t take risks. They live comfortable content lives, which never appealed to me. At a young age I knew I wanted to be an artist and to see the whole world. I would say I have always lived a pretty risky life. but the biggest risk I ever took was my move to Brooklyn.
I was living in Kansas City at the time, had a happy monogamous 5 year relationship, a job I enjoyed and was starting my art career on the side. I was successful in my own right, doing art and craft shows, custom works and even had interviews on the local tv stations. But I wanted more. I was compliant in life and I was miserable deep down.
New York was were the art was and I had always dreamed of moving there. however coming from a town where no one leaves its hard to change your mindset. to believe you can do it. I had pushed to start my art career in Kansas city and was proud of myself yet I still had my crutch, drinking. I knew it as holding me back.
It would be a lot of change. my boyfriend at the time didn’t want to live in New York. my clients were all in Kansas city. my stability was here. but I kept telling myself. if I go and fail I can always come back and I knew I would have at least tried. but if I stay here I will never know. I will never know if I could have done it and what it could have lead to. So I prepared the best I could. My best friend was living in Brooklyn and helped so much yet I still had to do the big things myself. I broke up with my boyfriend, I started saving money and organizing my life. Finally I stopped drinking. Big change required big movement from yourself as well. My friend had gotten me a freelance gig for when I moved to New York. My sisters drove across half the country to send me off. that 2 week trial job turned into 2 months and lead to another job which lead to my first permanent installation in New York. Not only taking that risk changed my life and accomplishments but changed me for a better person. I’m proud of my sobriety every day I see how much it held me back and I’m proud of how much of a fulfilling life I have as an artist since moving.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m a paper funk artist, creating a whimsical take on vegetation through paper sculptures, Bringing humans back to their connection with earth. Our need for nature in our lives, and fixation on everlasting life. My pieces represent finding joy and balance in the world and with yourself.
I was introduced to crepe paper in 2016. I had always loved paper art but my background was in drawing and art history not sculpture art. And the only paper i had was used to seeing or using was card stock. Crepe paper changed my relationship and gave me a new fascination with art. It is made from layers of tissue paper adhered together.
Crepe paper is easy to form and manipulating into organic bulbous shapes. It can be cut, twisted, stretched, painted, dyed soaked in water and chalked. I love to keep pushing the limits of the medium by making soft sculptures and my own techniques. My aesthetic combines modern contemporary with figurative botanicals. I make templates of leaves and petals using inspiration from plants, 70s posters, body parts and art deco style. Giving my art a bizarre, humorous and unexpected reality of fantasy. The art is truly enjoyed through any angle and encourages the viewer to find secret moments. Creating movement with high emphasis on new plant growth and budding formations. I also use paper mache and my own paper clay recipe to add different levels of structure of texture to my installations and works.
Commercially I work with different brands to create campaign shoots backdrops and windows displays. My paper art has been displayed in windows for Macys, Bloomingdales, and Tiffany’s. I have done campaign shoots for Swell, Primary Kids, and Hushpuppies. My focus is on large scale mainly with extreme emphasis on detail.
My main passion is creating experiences installations, whimsical worlds of imagination to escape into. I do events and pop ups in spaces. I have 3 permanent installations in New York at 41st and Madison. My first solo show, Everlasting Fantasy, opened in 2023 at Compere Collective in Red hook. I also preform with my pieces. Since all my art is pliable and i make the works come to life with my movement.
I love doing custom floral arrangements in mounted work and freestanding pieces. I have done weddings, headpieces for photoshoots and displays for restaurants.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I think its a tie, between feeling fulfilled having created something from my head into actuality and the energy i receive from someone who is enjoying my work.
Even though i get frustrated with the process at times. once i am finished with a work and look abon what i have created i am overwhelmed with pride. The thing is, my art its not really for anyone most the time. its for myself, its to live in imagination and be creative in a world that tells us we can’t. And then when people do see it and they gravitate towards it. Sometimes a giant smile spreads across their face. They feel an emotional response or a desire to create themselves or even a distant memory is brought back. I am rewarded again. I am rewarded with someone else having joy because of my own. Dont we all just want to do what we love and have others love it back? thats what art is to me.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

david lynch catching the big fish
7 habits of highly affective people

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.metallicfern.com
• Instagram: @metallicfern
• Facebook: metallic fern
• Linkedin: metallicfern ama adams

Image Credits

Heaton Johnson
Nico James
Ama Adams