Artist’s Statement
I began to explore visual art as a new mother. In hindsight, I suppose it was a way of integrating my particular experiences of loss, responsibility, and change into a more universal sense of shared experience along with a specific richer, and more complicated life that continually expands and contracts.
I think of my artwork as structured improvisation, influenced by and in the tradition of some evolving forms of post-modern dance and performance. The collage-paintings could be described mixing or sampling, as they involve combining, reorienting, layering, and altering unrelated snips of existing material—mostly magazine, handpainted, and found papers. I begin with an intriguing scrap of paper, an underlayer of acrylic texture and paint, other idea or structure, then allow an improvisation rooted in mood and color. When the piece begins to feel complete, I edit according to principles of design, using more papers, ink, marker, paint, and oil pastels. Because I work on art alongside and in between everyday family care, my consulting business, independent curating projects, and more, the layers of each collage are built, bit by bit, over time.
Rather than suggesting a specific narrative, I am trying to reflect the individual’s connection with universal themes of reflection, autonomy, community, culture, and place. I am interested in the layered richness and internal textures of mood. The irregular edges of mind and emotion that spill out into the world are like those of these paper collages that cannot be contained.
Biography
Amy Kincaid began making art as an adult and has been showing work since 2003. She has exhibited in several juried competitions, receiving awards in mixed media. In 2005 and 2006, she had solo exhibits in alternative spaces, and in 2007, was featured in a three-woman show at Artful Gallery in Washington, DC’s Atlas Arts District. An advisor and trainer for nonprofit organizations on fundraising and management, she curates a local alternative gallery and performance space, and whenever possible, takes dance and movement classes. Amy lives in the Takoma Park-Silver Spring area with her husband, Neal Jeffries, and two young children.
