Currently exhibiting a solo collection in Transformations, now at Diversions Fine Arts, artist Amy Thornberry works with a sense of devotion and delight in her creative work, viewing the manipulations of her materials as a playful way to pray and meditate, while transforming basic elements of paper and pigment and other mediums into beautiful creativity. Saying that she views her works as “portals into places where we may pause, wonder, and reflect,” she also relates that her knowledge of the Buddhist practice of tonglen – sending and taking – remnds her of the ways in which, through art “we can move from the dark into the light.”
Her work dances with that light, with color, and with pattern and texture that is both exultant and lush. Asked what inspires her the most as an artist, Thornberry replies that “the nature of being, art history, current events, history, nature, and beauty” are all inspirations for her, as are both art materials and found objects. In short, both material and meaning are the core and purpose of her artwork.
Her practice has evolved over the years, resulting in many dynamic changes to the work, which is currently awash in layers, and dreamily vivid. “I used to lash out like say Franz Kline. Very fast and I had no patience to mix colors,” she relates. “Now I tinker and massage a surface endlessly. I went to the opposite extreme of perhaps too much patience,” she laughs.
“There was a time when I had a complete aversion to making paintings and I only wanted to make installation pieces. I liked hanging and using the entire space which I think came from my background as a theater, set maker, and movie set maker. And with my background as a competitive swimmer, I had so much physicality. I felt very confined with just a rectangle, and I think this latest body of work the framed shadowbox grew out of a way of processing that.”
Her insightful and meditative work is at least in part a result of the fact that she “thinks a lot in between studio sessions about pieces and my next steps usually come to me early in the morning, upon waking or when I am practicing yoga.”
She says that having “renounced panic” she has also “developed a love of mixed neurtrals and pastel colors,” a palette that her “younger self did not prefer.”
Thornberry works in a variety of mediums. “I use water-based paints as well as oil paints but no solvents, just linseed oil and marble dust. I also love, love, love cutting into work as well, and collaging with other papers and fabrics. I have a huge collection of fabrics and papers. ” She adds that “lately I have been craving drawing as well with colored pencil, conte or ink…I have a love a little bling and metallic shine.”
Thematically, she explains that she’s “a very protective mama bear/big sister and cannot NOT think [and] be influenced by things I find unjust or hurtful to humanity. Making art and getting lost, creating reverie, is a way I think to make sense of things, to process them, and to transform them.”
According to the artist, “I guess its a therapeutic way to use my love of formalism and materiality.” She jokes that she is “very practical,” after all.
That said, she attests that “My aim is for this reverie and creation of a refuge if you will, [one that exists] not only during the making of the work but for as long as it can be looked upon. Staring at art is so much easier than dealing with all the remote controls and trying to decide what to watch on all the streaming services. I am a joking a little,” she says, adding that these are her honest feelings about art, and observation.
In short, Thornberry recognizes the poetry and purpose of art as having a deeper import and more peaceful and involving outcome in viewing it than endlessly watching streaming “content.” Art is far deeper than content: it is creation, and a profound one for her.
With that in mind, she is currently “reorganizing my life in order to move to a bigger studio and work on some larger
canvases,” a plan and move that she is very excited about pursuing.
She hopes viewers of her work can see that “even [having] one art piece hanging in their home is like a mini-opera or a taking trip. Support your artist friends, buy their work, and sit back and enjoy the show and trip.” In other words, vacation and immerse yourself every day if you wish, simply by owning a beautiful work of art, and taking a lifetime filled with imaginative and fascinating visceral travel through the mind, eye, and soul.
Viewers can certainly start their travels with Thornberry April 11th through May 3rd at Diversions Fine Arts Gallery, 1069 N. Aviation Blvd. in Manhattan Beach, or reach out to her directly for a studio visit to explore her dazzlingly delightful and layered work.
- Genie Davis; photos by Genie Davis and provided by the artist
