Wednesday Indie Artist Fixx with Amy Rice

Wednesday Indie Artist Fixx is back from its holiday hiatus. Yay! Today I am so happy to be sharing my interview with Amy Rice, seriously one of my all-time favorite artists.

Amy is a self-taught Minneapolis based artist whose art just speaks to me. She creates most of her pieces using stencils that she has designed & cut herself, and which she can then layer and experiment with both color and texture.  Her inspirations include: childhood toys, vintage botanical prints, her dog Ella, bicycles, street art, random found objects, collective endeavors that challenge hierarchy, acts of compassion, downright silliness and things with wings.

Amy’s work is just so yummy to me! Please enjoy my interview with her.

1. What’s the name of your business, what do create and sell and how did you get your start?

I don’t really have a business name; it’s just me, Amy Rice. I have made art my entire life. About 10 years ago I made a decision to develop a body of work specifically to try to gain an exhibition…I started by showing in a pizza joint, then a bar, next in a group show in a gallery and have just built on each opportunity since.

2. Do you have a mentor? If not, who would your dream mentor be?

I have been so lucky to have had many, but topping my list in terms of my art career would be Terrence Payne, a fellow Minneapolis artist who is also the founder and director of Rosalux Gallery, one of the first galleries I showed in. He really challenged me as well as the artists who exhibited at Rosalux Gallery to be serious, professional and to have high expectations. Yuri Arajs, celebrated curator, and also, now, a dear friend has been a mentor to me as well as literally hundreds of other outsider and self-taught artists.

3. What are your inspirations in your art and in life?

I am inspired by the urban community in which I live, childhood toys, vintage botanical prints, my dog Ella, bicycles, street art, random found objects, collective endeavors that challenge hierarchy, acts of compassion, downright silliness and things with wings.

4. What three things can’t you live without?

1. Music, new music all the time 2. Time and space to create. 3. My pack (friends, family, sweetheart, dog)

5. What blogs and mags do you read and what shops do you shop at?

I am addicted to Flickr (My Flickr). I also look at Design*Sponge and Art MoCo almost daily. I like shopping at thrift stores, flea markets and garage sales.

6. What does indie mean to you? You can give a literal definition, choose to be a little esoteric or a combination of both.

To me indie means you do what you want to do, you choose your own inspirations, and you get to be the boss of you.

7.  What’s new? Any new plans or products that you want to share?

Over the holidays, I contributed to Art Star’s Holiday Card and Ornament show and I feel really happy with the results. Babushkas!  I am looking forward to spending the winter on a new body of work, I’m not sure yet exactly what it will look like, but I do know it will be very positive and hopeful.