Meet Amy Reckley | contemporary abstract artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Amy Reckley and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Amy, let’s start by talking about what inspires you?
I am inspired by a life that is filled with various experiences and interactions, everyday observations, and being present in the world. I embrace a personal policy in my studio practice of learning the rules behind processes and ways of working or looking, and breaking them.
I also find inspiration among like-minded artists with whom I have associated myself over the years. I believe it is really important to be part of a core group of people who will openly share successes and challenges.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am a multidisciplinary artist working in drawing, painting, screen printing, and installation art. There is often an exchange among these different ways of working, based on the ideas that I am trying to express. My work is about specific spaces or locations and nostalgia – maps, structures and memory. Or, alternatively with my screen print series, an ongoing formal exercise with layering color and patterns. When I was first learning the processes and nuances associated with screen printing, I was in a post-baccalaureate program in Florence, Italy. While there, I focused in on a series of screen prints that were inspired by and based on shadows, specifically those cast on the wall of a museum by kitchen items once owned by the Medici.

Typically, because of its nature of reproduction, screen printing is closely associated with design, fashion and the commercial arts. Often it isn’t recognized as a method or technique in traditional fine art printmaking programs.
While in Italy and even now, I approach screen printing in a much looser way, making unique prints and not worrying much about the details of registration or editions.

I use a process that is sometimes referred to as unhinged. I shift screens around, layer them and often extend the ink beyond the edges of the paper. I make unique prints and not editions. I cut into the prints and layer the paper, I also use prints and remnants for various types of installations. For the last several years, I have been printing from a library of screens. The end result is prints that relate to one another through repeated marks, shapes and shared color combinations.

More recently, I’ve turned toward painting and drawing in a more atmospheric way. Even though it is still in early development, I feel like I can say that the newly evolving work is about the spaces in between moments, close observation, sensation and tiny experienced, human moments.

I have taken a lot of different turns in life, worked a lot of different jobs and made decisions that might seem questionable. Throughout all of it I’ve always made art, even without deliberately thinking that it would lead me in a particular direction. Sometimes it can still seem like an activity that happens in the background or the off-hours, but what’s changed is my thinking about my studio practice. This is why I call it my “real job” and why I see it as the ultimate goal. The real challenge is in being patient, disciplined and leading a balanced life that allows for ample studio time. And I deliberately work this every day. Knowing I haven’t chosen a linear path is both difficult and important to remember as it ultimately recognizes all of the twists and turns that deepen my experience and work.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live and work in Grand Rapids, so trips to my favorite art locations are a must – walking the sculpture grounds at Frederick Meijer Gardens (which satisfies my need to be outside with plants and see great sculpture,) checking out the latest exhibitions at the Grand Rapids Art Museum. Lunch at KCM and dinner at Little Bird, which is one of the best restaurants I have ever enjoyed. Browsing at Vertigo for vinyl, and along Division Avenue for thrifting and vintage shopping. Grand Rapids is growing and getting better. There are always exciting new places in the different neighborhoods around the city.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I am deeply grateful for love and emotional support from my family and close friends. I have always felt boosted by their energy for my work and I trust them to be honest with me. Often they are simultaneously my best and harshest critics. I also recognize the many unique opportunities to work, travel and live in places throughout the world. I’ve worked in non-profits, landscape design, cooked in restaurants, taught art and connected with lots of different people along the way.
I am who I am because of the various layers of experiences in my life, and my studio practice is a direct reflection of this.

Website: www.amyreckley.com

Instagram: amyreckley