Amy Smith Contemporary Abstract Art
Amy Smith is a contemporary abstract artist who is inspired to create expressionist paintings that capture feeling and emotion. Amy works in mixed media and acrylics to create abstract fine art that is deeply layered and textured. Her contemporary art is a form of storytelling. She captures these stories with color and gesture and mark making.
“Abstract painting is a vehicle to outwardly express the deep inner work of the Spirit in me. I am inspired by emotions, relationships, current events, the natural environment, and most centrally, my faith in relationship to all of these things.”
Learn To Paint With Amy
Amy loves to share her passion for art and creativity through her painting classes, individual art instruction and creativity coaching. She is passionate about helping people awaken their creativity and find their creative voice.
In Person Workshops & Retreats
Online Courses
Her art instruction teaches painting technique and design with an emphasis on being able to paint freely by following instinct and intuition. Learning to let go of control in art is a good tool for artists who work in any medium or style. She’s an art teacher who teaches painting classes in intuitive abstract painting and representational abstract painting at her studio and gallery in West End, NC. She also travels with her art workshops and art lessons to events and art studios around the United States. Amy is available for individual art classes for adults and creativity coaching from a biblical perspective on a limited basis.
“What a gift Amy has for teaching, for supportive, positive encouragement, for raising awareness within ourselves and guiding our creativity to burst forth!! This class is terrific for abstract expressionist artists but also for opening minds to new artistic expression for all types of art! Great class for beginners as well! And, it was fun! Thanks Amy!”
“I just finished Amy’s 6-week art course. It was the best way to spend a Tuesday morning! Amy’s generous heart and the freedom she encourages were such an inspiration. Her teaching is much more than technique. She started the course dealing with removing emotional and spiritual obstacles that were holding me back! Brilliant!”
About Amy
Amy has been creative for as long as she can remember. She originally worked in hot glass, making lampworked glass beads, before beginning to work in mixed media. You can find her artwork for sale at her studio and gallery at 1093 Doub’s Chapel Road in West End, NC. Some of her original paintings for sale may be found here on her website as well.
Amy currently resides in North Carolina with her husband, Matt, and three cats.
If you are interested in bringing Amy to your location for art classes or in working with her individually for art instruction or creativity coaching, you may contact her at amy@amysmithart.com.
More of Amy’s Work
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
Much of Amy’s work is considered Abstract Expressionism. Expressionism is a style of fine art that allows the artist freedom to express emotion and experience through non-representational and non-traditional means. The original abstract expressionist artists of the 1940’s- 1960’s included famous women artists such as Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell, Lee Krasner and Elaine DeKooning. Amy names these female pioneers as influencers on her style of contemporary abstract expressionist art.
As a contemporary painter she borrows action painting from the expressionist artists of the past.
“I am interested in the stories that we tell ourselves. Is our internal narrative truthful or are we bound up in falsehood and inauthenticity? What is our internal conversation about our culture and how we are relating to it? These are the questions that keep me awake at night.”
MIXED MEDIA ART
Mixed media artwork incorporates more than one type of art medium. Amy uses acrylic paints along with collage elements, and charcoal and graphite for mark making. The resulting mixed media paintings are multi layered and richly textured. Her collage elements are fragments of papers that she has painted by hand and also vintage papers and book pages. The mark making gives the mixed media abstract art movement and are representative of dialogues. In the layering some of the bottom most layers peek through and invite viewers to look deeper.
FLORALS
Amy also enjoys a more representational approach in some of her work. She is known for her abstract paintings of flowers and trees and other facets of nature. She enjoys approaching these subjects with the same intuitive painting technique that she employs in her expressionist abstract style work.