Amy Laskin
Capturing the Essence of Nature

We have almost weekly conversations, Amy and I. Often it seems that I catch her just as she is making her weekly run back from the town after collecting her groceries and such.

And often there is a storm or a mudslide that has hindered her route, but Amy is rugged.

You would not know it from her work. The delicate brushwork that defies logic, the smooth silk finishes, the wispy feathers, blossoming flowers and corals, and the foliage, oh the foliage.

She draws you in to her world and you can almost smell the rainfall and hear the parrot from his perch as you look out over her paradise found.

We sat down for a convo recently, remotely, and had a delightful earful of her life and work. Here I share my conversation with Amy, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Can you tell us a bit about your Can you tell us a bit about your background and journey as an background and journey as an artist? What led you to pursue art, artist? What led you to pursue art, and how has your personal history and how has your personal history influenced your creative path? influenced your creative path?

My mother was an artistic soul. She studied to be an actor but became pregnant at the same time she got called back to read for a soap opera. Right then and there, her career was nipped in the bud.

She was a product of her generation and chose to forgo her career to raise her children. When she realized I had creative urges and artistic leanings, she enrolled me at The Philadelphia Museum of Art for extracurricular classes.

That was the beginning. After classes, I used to roam the museum looking at all the great art. At the time, the museum had 250,000 works of art, and I started observing the greats from age seven.

This education continued all through my childhood until I went away to college. My aspirations were cemented from that time. I knew without question that I wanted to become an artist.

My undergraduate college major was art (specifically ceramic sculpture), and I continued immediately upon graduation to receive my master’s degree.

Your artwork demonstrates a Your artwork demonstrates a unique technique and style. Could unique technique and style. Could you elaborate on your creative you elaborate on your creative process and the mediums you process and the mediums you prefer to work with? prefer to work with?

 I am attracted to very smooth, almost silky surfaces, and I go to great lengths before I even start painting to ensure the substrate is smooth enough.

I build up many layers, possibly ten or so, of gesso on a substrate and sand down every layer before I apply the paint. I usually use oil paint, sometimes acrylic, but I also slowly build up many layers with thin translucent colors and glazes.

How do you approach the blank How do you approach the blank canvas or page, and what inspires canvas or page, and what inspires your artistic choices? your artistic choices?

I approach the blank canvas in many different ways. There have been times when the shape of the canvas alone sparked an idea. There have been times when I built models and photographed them, working between the two.

A color or a particular plant can spark an idea, as well as the texture and shape of a mountain range. I am fascinated by lace, feathers, flowers, unusual clouds, and grey skies. I like vintage clothing, fashion trends, and dresses in general.

I love capes, scarves, Elizabethan collars, fans, ruffs, corsets, vines, tropical and exotic plants, undulating hills, and mountain ranges. I love beaded purses, costumes, and exotic decorative butterflies and beetles. I archive images I find on the internet.

My compositions are really a conglomeration of the things that fascinate me. I often make visual relationships from unrelated forms.