Amy Bernhardt
"Either Ore" 2020 oil pastel 10" x 10" image (16" x 16" framed size)
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"Change of Heart" oil pastel 16 x 16 matted and framed
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.