Amy Sterly Montgomeryshire, United Kingdom
Amy Sterly is originally from Chicago and received a B.F.A. in drawing and sculpture from Rockford College, Illinois in 1986. She moved to the U.K. in 1989 and has since exhibited throughout the UK, Europe and the USA. She is exploring ways of using domestic objects to make prints and installations. Collaborations and public interventions are an important aspect of her practice.
I have been creating woodcut prints for many years, and I originally visited Finland in 2012 where I visited Jyvaskyla to research the work of Alvar Aalto, the architecture, and the woodcarving tradition there. I explored the woodcarving tradition in Finland by looking at the folk art and the wooden domestic objects produced there. I began to carve and print using wooden rolling pins, cutting boards, spatulas and spoon. Making prints, but looking at the plate and a work in itself. The object becomes something else, a sculpture with a life of its’ own. I am currently looking at interpreting narratives by creating sounds and images through looking at everyday objects and how we interact with them. She has recently been working with books to create installations and performances with the group Sound Book Project. Sound Book Project is a group of collaborating artists and musicians using books as instruments. Interacting with books in a new and surprising way, suddenly the books will trigger sound by the turn of a page. The books speak for themselves. The books will be wound, sprung, strummed, slapped and thrown and a soundscape will evolve around the performers. The tactile nature of the book creates a sensual response that far surpasses reactions to the digital equivalents. It is emotional and aesthetic. Triggering memory and emotion… Crack the spine Strum the pages Play the fragments of memories. “I want my art to trigger emotion and memory and change the object into something that you may not expect.”
Artwork
Mountain Range, Paper collage, 2024
Six Tits, Paper collage, 2024
Sparrows I Have Known, Paper collage, 2022
A Pocketful of Owls, Paper collage, 2023
My String Book, Book art, 2015
Rubberband Book, Book, rubberbands, 2016, £150
Sound Waves, Book, 2015, £250
Bell Book, Book, Bells, 2015, £250
There are no words, Handmade Zine, 2015, £5
Late Again, Woodcut Print, 2013, £1200
Chwalfa, Book, thread, slate, 2018, £250
Tree House, Woodcut print, 2018
Rural Intervention, Woodcut print, 2018
Domestic Landscapes, Carved rolling pins, 2013
Forest 1, Woodcut print, 2018
Road to Jyvaskyla, Drypoint print with Chine Colle, 2018
Drawing on the domestic, Coppiced hazel wood, 2014
Projects and exhibitions
| Details | |||
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Sound Book Project11/09/2015 — 06/07/2017 A performance of music made with books A group of artists and musicians experimenting with books and other objects to create a soundscape. |
Galleries, Libraries, Book Fairs, Around the UK and Ireland | Details |
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Sound Books07/03/2015 — 15/05/2015 In TestBed this Spring, Amy Sterly and Thom Snell premier their new work Sound Books born out of their recently formed collaboration. Books envelop every wall, covers open and their pages thrusting forward into the room. Animated by moving air, their presence becomes accentuated through a compelling rustle and flicker of paper. |
Oriel Davies, Newtown | Details |
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Drawing the Domestic17/08/2013 — 15/09/2013 A site Specific installation in sculpture and print - A collaboration between Frances Carlile and Amy Sterly |
Sidney Nolan Trust, Presteigne | Details |