Amy’s Website - https://amylunstrum.webs.com/
What's the primary medium you work in?
You know I don't really have a primary, I kind of go back and forth between painting and sculpting pretty equal between both.
Do you incorporate painting with your sculptures?
Sometimes, most of the time it's either one or the other but sometimes I'll have like, I have a bust that I've painted over there, or you know I might paint small areas but for the most part it's glazed sculptures and then paintings on wood.
What kind of paints do you use?
I use acrylic paint. Last summer I took an oil painting class and I really loved it and so I'd love to experiment with that more but in the past all I've used is acrylics.
What got you into doing art?
I feel like I've always just had an urge to make things even when I was young I liked to glue rocks together and make creatures out of rocks. I drove my mom crazy because I never wanted to throw any of the boxes away from our fast food and I'd make Kleenex boxes or you know money banks or whatever out of the boxes and so I think I've just always liked repurposing or making things and I guess it's just been kind of a lifelong interest. I never really thought it could be a career and so I didn't pursue it in college as something that you know I could have got a degree in or anything it's always just been an interest on the side so even through college I did take art classes I didn't major in art though.
What’s it been like being an artist in Boise?
I would say I’ve had a great experience. I was able to take classes at Fort Boise in pottery and ceramic sculpture which really opened up that whole love of clay for me which I hadn't discovered until I was 29 I think and so Rick Jenkins was the director down there and he was my teacher for I don't know how many years but over ten. Having that facility has been great, having him as a teacher was great, being around all the other outstanding Potter's that are down there was inspiring. And then I was lucky enough to to meet a person, Ardith Tate, who really helped me get into the galleries in Boise and so I felt so lucky that those doors opened up for me and then I had some pieces and local galleries and then galleries in a gallery in Oregon and a gallery in California, it was wonderful for me. Then the public art opportunities that I've had too are opportunities I don't know that a lot of people have where they live and I think that that's another real benefit of being here in Boise is the vibrant public art scene.
Where do you find your inspiration?
It changes I think, I typically find it in books that aren't related to the media that I'm using but like for instance most recently I was reading a taxidermy book and I saw somebody had made a double-headed sheep or something out of taxidermy and so that inspired me to make a double-headed goat out of clay. Or something that's been inspiring me a lot lately is movable art so kinetic sculptures most often they're made out of wood but I've been trying to make some kind of movable sculptures out of clay and then also incorporating wouldn't paint as well with that. So it's usually in places I don't expect it to be it's not in traditional art things but I'll see something and I'll see one element that I think I bet I could make that one element so then I try to reproduce that and then it turns into a its own piece.
Do you like to branch out and use materials in less traditional ways?
I would love to do that more, I don't know that I have done that as much in the past but I really have an interest in like multimedia type pieces but I think for now I've probably stuck with more traditional uses of the materials that I have.
How do you stay motivated to create?
For me I'm lucky because it's a stronger drive for me than like watching TV. So if I'm home alone that's typically what I tend to do is try to make something. I'm really good at starting projects not as good at finishing them. So sometimes I'm motivated by seeing all the things I've started and then I'm like I really got to finish that thing so then I'll make time to make that happen but that is definitely a challenge especially when my career isn't an artistic career during the day so it is something I have to carve out time for specifically. But I think that I'm lucky enough to be able to work part time so I do have additional time to to create on those days that I'm not at work and it's just kind of a drive I have I guess.
What does art mean to you?
Art I think means that you're basically interpreting something and I guess it goes back to you know what you find inspiration and so for me if I find inspiration in this one element of something that I've seen I'm gonna you know I want to try to interpret it and I guess I feel like that's what all of us are doing you know when they say that no artist is original I think it's it's true in a way like that we're all reinterpreting something that's already been interpreted before but its original in the way that we interpret it. So I guess that's what art means to me and I also feel like it's something bigger almost like speaking through you. You know when you get inspired it's coming from some other place that I'm not really sure where that is but something is speaking to you and you're just driven to to give that thing a voice.
How critical for you is it to have a creative space?
It is very critical. It's hard to create when you have to like put everything away or if you don't even have room to put everything away everyday and you're creating in your living space it's definitely a challenge and I think you know when when you're in situations like that, or when I’ve been in situations like that I maybe have to go to a different media that's not my medium of choice and I might have to just draw small scale things instead of you know like being able to work in clay and get messy with that so I think that being able to have a space is really huge.
What are some opportunities you’ve been able to pursue specific to Boise?
I think the public art opportunities that I've had, the linen district fence mural, and the traffic box mural have both been things unique to Boise and that I probably wouldn't have had those opportunities elsewhere. And then like I said the galleries here and it happened to be at a perfect time and place to when the basement gallery was such a big force here in Boise in I guess that would have been the early 2000s and that gallery was just really open to showing up-and-coming artists as well as established artists and I thought that was you know truly unique to Boise and unique to that time in Boise too.
What would you say to an artist who is just starting out or struggling with motivation?
Probably things I need to tell myself too. I think the thing that I would encourage them with is if you carve out you know a small chunk of time and you know ideally every day but it might not even be every day it might be every other day, you keep something within you alive that's gonna sustain you through all the other things you do if it's parenting if it's your day job, if it's you know whatever else being a family member, I think just being in touch with that creative side of yourself helps you be true to yourself and helps you feel better about everything else you're doing. I also think that it's a matter of building momentum so even though it's easy to get discouraged it's you know once you build that momentum it just gets easier and it is hard at times like sometimes I'll look around and see all the stuff I've created just sitting here and I think why am I gonna make one more piece to end up in my basement or end up on my shelf but then the next day someone says oh I saw this piece of yours it's so great and I think okay that's why I keep making it. It's to have conversations with people too.
Anything else you’d like to say?
I just feel really grateful to the teachers that I've had in my life you know traditional and non-traditional. Mostly outside of like a formal educational environment like a college or a school but like the teachers at Fort Boise the people that are down there working at Fort Boise, the students and you know the people that have mentored me take me under my wing. The people that have even like given me feedback on my stuff and you know commented on my website or you know that I just I'm so grateful for all that because that's what keeps me going.