Amy Bernhardt
In a time of ever increasing speed, fragmentation, and complexity, painting allows me to slow the pace, to pay attention, to find meaning and beauty. My paintings explore the way in which the external world is reflected in my inner landscape, inviting the viewer to experience the mix of the two in a way that is both personal and universal. ~AB
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"Butterscotch Moon" oil pastel 28" x 28" matted and framed
"Once Upon a Time, When Women Were Birds..."* oil and oil pastel 28" x 28" matted and framed
The title refers to a quote from Terry Tempest Williams:
“Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated.”
“Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated.”
In 2012 I moved to Deer Isle from Boston, leaving behind my partnership in a large architectural firm to make painting my career. With that move came a transition from largely representational paintings to abstract ones, which—for me—better express and elicit feelings about the subject of the work. More than purely depicting what a thing looks like, what captures my imagination is conveying its meaning or the feelings it arouses. Many of my pieces are informed by my architectural background, so there is something of an order to them, but that is mixed with my experience on the Maine coast, where raw beauty and irregularities inevitably make their way into the work.
In a time of ever increasing speed, fragmentation, and complexity, painting allows me to slow the pace, to pay attention, to find meaning and beauty. My paintings explore the way in which the external world is reflected in my inner landscape, inviting the viewer to experience the mix of the two in a way that is both personal and universal.
In a time of ever increasing speed, fragmentation, and complexity, painting allows me to slow the pace, to pay attention, to find meaning and beauty. My paintings explore the way in which the external world is reflected in my inner landscape, inviting the viewer to experience the mix of the two in a way that is both personal and universal.