Today we’d like to introduce you to Amy Schissel.
Hi Amy, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born into an artistic and musical family in Beiseker, Alberta Canada, where my parents owned and operated a farm. Involved since childhood in music, dance, and the visual arts, my artistic adventures include training professionally as a dancer and dancing in a traveling Alberta-based dance company and playing in experimental jazz bands across Ontario until really taking ‘painting’ seriously. I started my undergraduate degree in Jazz saxophone but ultimately decided to pursue painting, obtaining my undergraduate degree in Fine Arts.
I continued painting and drawing seriously after college, applied to as many exhibitions as I could, and kept up studio spaces. At one point, some artist friends and I rented a large old house downtown, crammed way too many people in it, and used the top floor as a studio to save on rent and studio costs while working as a bartender and teaching art classes on the side. When I could save up a bit of money or sell some paintings, I’d take off on my own across Europe to experience the art scene abroad including in Sweden, Switzerland, France, London, Scotland, Belgium, and Italy. On one trip, I ended up loving Scotland so much I stayed there for months managing a youth hostel in Glasgow in return for a room to use as a studio space, where I painted and started applying for Masters of Fine Arts Programs.
I completed my Masters of Visual Arts in Painting in Canada at the University of Ottawa on a scholarship allowing me to focus 100% on my painting practice. The University I attended was big on bringing in professionals from the field for studio visits. I connected with gallerists, curators, program directors and critics, and began to work with the Canadian gallery that still represents me today, Patrick Mikhail. Since, I have been able to travel nationally and Internationally exhibiting my projects, building my practice, and participating in Artist Residencies. My most recent residency was a Fellowship spending six weeks at the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Finding affordable studio space in big cities has always been difficult. It was a catch 22 during my early years where I was working joe jobs to afford rent and a studio space, but then extra employment often limited my studio time. Applying for exhibitions, grants, residencies, and other funding is competitive and can be as time-consuming as having a second or third job. I learned early on that time has to be well balanced in order to build a career and exhibition history while remaining authentic to my vision. I am very grateful now to be building my international profile and to have my work placed in great public and corporate collections.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a Visual Artist engaged in Painting and Drawing ‘Installation’ work. That means that I like to create a total environment or experience for the viewer within the space of a gallery. This includes anything from creating large scroll drawings that fill the gallery space, bending intuitively to its architecture, or paintings that I hang over direct wall drawings, handpainted wallpapers, and digital prints. I am interested in “Augmented” reality and how physical space is now also informational space, interpenetrated with data and information. I borrow from traditional maps and internet mapping schemata to draw out and merge complexes of space that both represent physical and informational spaces to make new ‘World Atlases’ reflecting our contemporary landscapes.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I have always been inclined to make art, as I was part of that world since childhood. My mother is a landscape painter, and I had the great luck of growing up in her studio, going on photoshoots, and trekking through the Canadian wilderness in pursuit of photographic images to work from. I tagged along with her on camping trips to paint and draw from ‘life’, where I learned the foundational skills of drawing and painting. In other words, I have been drawing and painting since I can remember!
Contact Info:
- Email: amyschissel@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.amyschissel.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amyschissel/
