In this episode, host Rodney Veal talks to visual artist Amy Deal about her rural upbringing, how her family supported her passion for the arts, her relocation to downtown Dayton and how the pandemic helped her evolve her work and try new things.
In this episode, host Rodney Veal talks to visual artist Amy Deal about her rural upbringing, how her family supported her passion for the arts, her relocation to downtown Dayton and how the pandemic helped her evolve her work and try new things.
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[00:00:30] Rodney: I am joined today in conversation with the fabulous Amy deal, an artist and rock contour, who is, oh, I’ve given you a title, Amy who’s just fantastic and fabulous to be around and it makes amazing art.
[00:00:46] So we’re gonna have a great conversation about all things visual arts. So, hi.
[00:00:51] Amy: Hi, Rodney.
[00:00:52] Rodney: How are you? How, how, how finds you today? How are you doing?
[00:00:56] Amy: Oh, really well relaxed. [00:01:00] All I have to do is paint for two deadlines. .
[00:01:03] Rodney: Oh, okay. Just the, a typical life of an artist. You’re constantly going, okay, so, which I know this is what I love about you.
[00:01:10] You’re constantly working and evolving and making work, but I like, I promise it’s gonna be kind of a, this is your life sort of scenario. So you, Amy, I love the fact that you’re from a place called Cranberry Prairie, Ohio. Yeah. I mean, okay, so talk about that. I mean, the fact that you, you know, you’ve, you’ve put down your roots in Ohio, but talk about the experience of growing up in Cranberry Ohio and how that led to being an artist.
[00:01:36] Oh,
[00:01:36] Amy: I am so glad you asked. I never really get to talk about this. Henry Stuckey bought it and my grandma Hildas said, Henry, what are you gonna do with this swamp? And my grandfather was one of the first to. You tile the field and all the water is gone and it is the most [00:02:00] beautiful, fertile soil in Ohio. So growing up my dad worked with his family and they were potato farmers, and I just got to play in the dirt and the mud all day long.
[00:02:12] Rodney: I love that. The fact that you got to like, you know, the fact that you really took are an artist who grew up in rural Ohio. Mm-hmm. as ver as, as opposed to like, oh, I grew up in the big city and I wanna be this artist. So, I mean, how, I mean for those of us who, you know, and I do come from a rural background as well.
[00:02:30] I mean, late in life it was more like Green Acres, you know, , you know, you show up and all of a sudden they’re asking you to hitch a plow. I’m like, wow, that, that’s. Not, not good for a seventh grader. So, so what about that experience? Because I know I, for me, it was like being surrounded by nature, being kind of isolated.
[00:02:51] Did that kind of inform being creative or is that, was this just something that you kind of stumbled upon or did it just kind of [00:03:00] manifest itself, so to speak?
[00:03:02] Amy: Looking back, I had the best childhood I would get on my bike and I, we had neighbors that we could hang out with. We had a creek next to our house, but we called it a crick.
[00:03:17] And we also had a gun club nearby and we would ride our bikes to the gun club and there was a pond, so perfectly idyllic childhood. We would collect tad pools, take them home. I would break into the gun club and steal these little clay pigeons, take those home and build my mud pies in ’em. And when they would dry, I would have to find paint.
[00:03:40] So I would get on my bike and there were railroad lilies, those orange lilies in all of the roads. Along the road and we would grab those, we’d grab dandelions, we’d grab whatever we could, and I literally would mash this stuff down to make pigments, and that’s [00:04:00] what I would paint my beautiful mud pies with.
[00:04:03] Rodney: Oh my God. I mean, the fact that you’re making your own pigment. Yeah. I mean that’s, that’s Come on. I mean, what, what, how did you, how did you just come up with the idea of doing that? I mean, is it just like you just said, oh, well this does that, you know, I mean, how most kids don’t, aren’t that inventive?
[00:04:21] let’s be honest,
[00:04:22] Amy: I had an older brother, a younger brother, and a younger sister, and like I said, a lot of neighbors. and we were just left to ourselves where we could just roam and explore and experiment. I’m surprised some of us are still living. Our Creek Creek would when it rained, it would fill up and down further.
[00:04:46] There was this big pipe that would just be full of water and we would get, well, because we came from farmers, we would get those big, huge tractor inner tubes and we’d go sailing. If our parents saw what we were doing, [00:05:00] I’m sure they would’ve stopped us. But we r we really just had the freedom.
[00:05:05] Rodney: Oh, and I, and I love that.
[00:05:06] I mean, and so, cause I always think that freedom allows for the creative process to happen. So. Absolutely. So this is like the start of What was kind of the catalyst for you to say, you know what, how do I translate this into being a visual artist and wanting to be a visual artist?
[00:05:21] Because if you’re not surrounded by
[00:05:22] Amy: it, right. I think a lot of it was more, I’m just a very visual person. I’m a visual learner and I like to work with my hands. When it comes to sound, anything auditory, I’m awful. . I, I’ve never understood music well. I just understand seeing things and looking at things and I, early on my eyes were always the most important thing.
[00:05:51] Rodney: That’s right. Kent State. That’s right. You started off as a b ffa. Right.
[00:05:55] Amy: And then I started working in Dayton as an graphic designer, art [00:06:00] director, creative director. And at that point I felt that nobody really took the creative person seriously. And I thought, well, I’ll show them.
[00:06:10] I’m gonna go get my mba, which I started, but then. . I got married and pregnant and that kind of ended in the middle of that, and I never finished, but I was just gonna, I was gonna show
[00:06:22] Rodney: them, you’re gonna show them that creativity. Mm-hmm. does matter. And, and I, what, what I love is the fact that, you know, visual communication and visual design, which.
[00:06:32] Working, were you working at an advertising agency or were you just working freelance? I mean, where did your kind of creativity land as far as, you know, keeping the roof over one’s head,
[00:06:42] Amy: so to speak? I started at an investor relations firm and I got that job before I graduated college.
[00:06:48] I went to work and I designed annual reports, which were beautiful pieces of art back in the eighties. Today everything’s online, which obviously, you know, [00:07:00] print is basically dying. From there I wanted to do more creative work, so I took position at Real Art Design Group, which is still here in Dayton, and I was the art director there.
[00:07:13] which I got to do a lot more creative advertising campaigns and corporate identities, which I really enjoyed. And then from there I thought, you know, I wanna go more, I wanna do a little bit more on the business side. So I took a marketing directorship had a place called C T G, and they basically sold computer cables, which was interesting to learn because I did marketing. I would go to trade shows, and I think that’s when I really decided I, I wanted to get my mba. Through that, art was always there for me,
[00:07:51] Rodney: What I love is like, you know, cuz I fell in love with your work with a typography series of Oh yes. I love, I love that. Yes. And [00:08:00] because I always thought about the, the graphic nature of your work and it was so striking and it was. Different from everyone else. And so that influence of being in that sort of commercial realm of art than transitioning into this more.
[00:08:16] I don’t wanna say fine art because I just feel like it’s art is art. But I mean, did you feel like you needed to make that, that it was okay to kind of reference starting off as that reference point? Because was that the very first series of work, the typography series or was it something else?
[00:08:32] Amy: Really getting back into art after I had the kids.
[00:08:34] Yes. It was the first series and I. I love typography. I always have, and even my daughters have become type nerds where they literally will not go to a restaurant if their logo is in a hideous font, which I’m really somewhat proud of. But ,
[00:08:54] Rodney: you know. So no, so no papyrus. We, we don’t do pyrus. Well,
[00:08:59] Amy: [00:09:00] Pyrus was, was nice at one time,
[00:09:02] But the one thing that we always joke about is the curls mt. Where still to this day, there are restaurants on their, you know, curls, Mt. And Nope, we’re not going there. ,
[00:09:17] Rodney: I love the fact that you’re like, like the typography will determine your, your, your meal for the I know. Isn’t that awful, ? No, I don’t think it’s, it’s, no, it’s no worse than decor.
[00:09:28] I mean, you know, I live with an interior designer, it’s like, ugh. Right. It’s like we gotta go. Dirty one does
[00:09:34] Amy: exactly. My grandmother would not go to a restaurant with dirty windows, so we won’t go unless the typography’s Nice.
[00:09:41] Rodney: So listen up, restaurant tours. Really pay attention to graphic design and typography, of your signs and, and your menus.
[00:09:49] I mean, I think that’s kind of important. I, there are many reasons and factors that, that draw us in and draw us out, and that’s what drew me. Because you clearly understood really good typography, [00:10:00] but then it just translated itself into such beautiful images and I was like, oh man, here’s this Amy deal making this really incredible art, doing it in a different cuz it didn’t look like everyone else’s.
[00:10:11] And so you stand out, your artwork does stand
[00:10:14] Amy: out. So I mean, well now I’m gonna go back in the studio and work on the type again. You’ve inspired me, Rodney,
[00:10:20] Rodney: me. Yes. I love it. Please keep going. Keep going. So I have a question cuz this is one, one of the things that I always think about. Growing up in, in, in rural Ohio, is it nature versus.
[00:10:32] Nurture in the creative process? Was it just being surrounded by nature that inspired the creativity? Or was it the nurturing of your parents to be creative? Did your parents kinda I’m like, get on board with my parents were really on board with me being an artist. They didn’t understand half the stuff I did, but they were on board.
[00:10:49] Amy: That’s so nice. Yes, my parents I’m gonna say it was both nature and nurture. The area I came from, and still to this day. It’s [00:11:00] a very traditional area and women were always expected to get married and have children, and my parents made it very clear that they would do everything they could to help me go further and get an education.
[00:11:19] They helped me sign for the loans that I did pay for myself, but they made it possible because they were never given that opportunity. My mother was never able to go to secondary education, you know, to college for the reason that she was female. Her parents were just like, ah, you’re just gonna get married.
[00:11:39] Rodney: You know, our circumstances do inform our creative practice.
[00:11:43] So I mean, I mean, if someone is nurturing that proposition that, okay, Amy’s not just going to be a girl, she’s also can be her own person. And so I mean, that’s a kind of, that’s critical. Is that, is that critical? That is, that’s important. I feel personally, do you feel that’s important to your creative [00:12:00] process?
[00:12:00] Amy: I think it’s really important. And you know what, you made me just think my mother was always, she was drawing and she would do silhouettes faces, which I would always love to sit and watch her do. And the thing I love the most is whenever they went out and we had a babysitter, she would always pull a box together.
[00:12:20] Junk paper plates, paper cups, markers, crayons, glue, a pair of scissors. And I would just spend the whole evening cutting and building things. I always had a card table in my bedroom so that I could cut and paste and glue and build like dioramas. Do you remember dioramas?
[00:12:41] Rodney: Oh yeah, totally. I, I’ll spend hours.
[00:12:45] We, we were, we were very similar. I think I, I took over my entire parents’ basement building stuff on a cardboard, like fake, fake cities. . I love building cities. She
[00:12:56] Amy: would’ve been my
[00:12:56] Rodney: neighbor. Oh, totally. You and I would’ve had way too much fun. Way [00:13:00] too. Right. And yeah, so it’s, so that’s kind of. To be honest, like, you know, I want our listeners to kind of know that, you know, it’s that sense of creative play still manifests itself in your work.
[00:13:10] There’s a mm-hmm. creative playfulness. Mm-hmm. , there’s a joy and exuberance to your work. And see, I’m fanboying out. I mean, I think even, I think even the producers, like his voices changed. He’s, he loves talking to Amy . I’m like,
[00:13:24] Amy: and I crush on you. You know
[00:13:26] Rodney: that Yeah. I it’s a mutual admiration society. And so I, and that’s why I wanted to ask these questions.
[00:13:32] So I know that, you know, since the typography and you’ve kind of evolved and let’s, let’s talk about the evolution of your work because. There are a couple factors we always talk about, you know, time being in essence, but also space you went from. Now this is what’s crazy for our viewers.
[00:13:46] She went from mom being in a, in a, in a very, very lovely suburban setting. And your husband Kevin, is an awesome guy. And they, you move from suburbia to downtown and I can’t [00:14:00] even begin. Describe folks. They have created an urban oasis with their home.
[00:14:04] It is just pretty amazing. I won’t give away the location, but it’s just fantastic cause I don’t want you people just banging on your door like all hours of the night. Although I did see that video of the ring . Oh, wasn’t that great. Yeah. It was like, wow, love does happen in our company. Outside your building,
[00:14:22] Very sweet. But I mean, that transition and so like what’s changed b with that transition from being suburban mom, empty nester to downtown urban oasis, do you think that’s totally changed the, the, the scope of your work
[00:14:39] Amy: a little. Of course you know, having the children, you know, we wanted a school system for him.
[00:14:45] We did what we thought was best. And the minute the youngest graduated, both Kevin and I were like, let’s do something. And we stayed in the area because his parents were here. My parents my mother is now, [00:15:00] she’s still up north. He has since lost both his parents and I’ve lost my father and. This was all going on while we were knocking down walls in this building we purchased.
[00:15:11] But it is so perfect. I am so glad we did it. We’re in the middle of the action. We went to see a show at the Victoria on Saturday night and we could just walk and it was wonderful. So definitely best move we ever made to move down.
[00:15:28] Rodney: Having that space and that freedom to do it and knowing that the work that you’re doing and the other divergent, obviously to all artists was Covid.
[00:15:35] Amy: Exactly. I loved Covid . It gave me every reason to stay inside . But what really happened was, and this is so interesting, I got to speak with some students at Upper Arlington last week, and so I had to put together a little, PowerPoint and I figured out the why things evolved the way they did.
[00:15:58] It was about five or [00:16:00] six years ago, I was on the board of a soup kitchen and they were having this event and they needed centerpieces and they put me in charge. And I thought, well, I’m not gonna go spend money on flowers. This is ridiculous. You know, we’re here to raise money to feed people. So I went to the soup kitchen and I gathered all their recyclable trash.
[00:16:21] And I thought, I’m, I’m gonna build centerpieces out of this. And I did. I cut, pasted painted flowers out of plastic. And then it turned into, oh gosh, this is kind of fun. I wanna make this big, huge, so-called living wall out of plastic, which I did at the time. And then I took it up to Grand Rapids to their art prize and.
[00:16:45] Awesomely. I was in the top 25, which was so great, and then the convention center bought the piece, so that was gone and I thought, I’m not gonna do that anymore. I’m gonna get back to painting. It was a nice break. . [00:17:00] But then during Covid, I started noticing all of the plastic that was coming into our house.
[00:17:06] A lot of single use plastic bags. So I thought, I’ve got time right now. I’m gonna see what I can do with these. And I started fusing them together, which made them more rigid, and I really wanted an excuse to sit behind the sewing. With headphones on to listen to books. So this was the perfect project. I started cutting and then I started sewing pets and flowers, and I think I spent an entire month sitting at the sewing machine, and I think I listened to 50 books.
[00:17:39] It was the best time of my life. , I’m sorry, everyone.
[00:17:45] Rodney: Isolation was good for you, wasn’t it? Yeah, it was a good, put
[00:17:48] Amy: me in a closet. I’ll be fine. .
[00:17:51] Rodney: I love it. I love it. So we’re gonna take a, a short break and when we come back we’re gonna dive into something you just mentioned, which was the Grand Rapid Art [00:18:00] Arts Prize, and we’re gonna talk about that adventure.
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[00:18:29] Rodney: So Amy what I love is you mentioned earlier you talked about the Grand Rapids Art Prize.
[00:18:34] Mm-hmm. And I had a conversation with someone about it just the other day because they were talking about it’s, it’s transitioning . But describe for our, our, our, our listeners, the Grand Rapids Art Prize, and then talk about your involvement with the Grand Rapid Arts.
[00:18:50] Amy: I really didn’t know much about it until, I’m trying to think.
[00:18:54] I had never even visited it until I entered that piece. And it’s [00:19:00] really, it’s a really great show. Although I have a different view now and I’ll explain it to you. The thing is, the entire city. Each venue will welcome as many pieces of art as they can fit in. And then I think it’s a three week period, September, October, where everyone can just walk around the city view all of the art.
[00:19:25] And the year I was in it, the way it worked was everybody would vote on which talk to them, which they felt was really inspiring. And I. and that’s how they would tabulate the, the top 25 pieces. But what was interesting with Covid, they had to take a break and then they changed it to, everyone could vote and you could give money, like. Kinda like, oh, pop $5. You can award this to whoever you [00:20:00] want. And it turned out everybody was awarding money to themselves and it just didn’t make sense to me and it kind of oh, ruined the whole thing for me. And I know then they were transitioning into like larger installations, which I don’t know enough about it.
[00:20:19] but I know they’re making new changes and I have a feeling you know more about that than I do.
[00:20:24] Rodney: And I think one of the things is I think that it’s kind of landed at their community college, their state community college Oh, in the region. So it’s kind of one of these situations where it’s kind of gonna morph again.
[00:20:37] So I think that it may go back to its true essence of when you were participating. , but then it’s gonna evolve beyond the fiasco of the money, Uhhuh, and the voting, which was really, I remember that phase. I’m like, this is weird, God. But as a prize, what was so unusual was a city in America actually devoting itself to [00:21:00] this proposition of turning itself
[00:21:02] Amy: right?
[00:21:03] Their commitment to art was just, Excellent. Wonderful. It was so great to visit.
[00:21:10] Rodney: Yeah. And I, and, and for, for our listeners, grand Rapids is a pretty cool city. I, I have to say I was beyond the, the, the art prize. I’ve, I’ve actually had the great good fortune to go, go to Grand Rapids a couple times, and I just fell in love with the city and I love their museum.
[00:21:25] Mm-hmm. , I think they have one of the, that was, that’s a killer.
[00:21:29] Amy: And the Meyer sculpture garden.
[00:21:32] Rodney: Oh, incredible. Yeah. Those, those two locations you go to the museum in and a Meyer sculpture garden, you will not be disappointed because they are just this really great contemporary artwork set in this botanical garden.
[00:21:45] That’s just stunning. It is. I was, it’s, it’s worth, it’s, it’s worth the drive people. It absolutely is. Are resist. And so do you, do you find yourself. W because the grant and Rapids art prize is a pretty [00:22:00] big thing. Are you applying to other kind of art prizes or is it just you just making art to exhibit and showing galleries and museum spaces?
[00:22:10] Are you doing the other things that art artists normally do?
[00:22:13] Amy: Right now it’s interesting. What I’m doing is I’m just doing stuff to pay the bills. , I just gotta commission a Kroger commission. It, it, I don’t know if I’d call it art, but it’s, it’s kind of a nice break. It is an eight foot by 24 foot.
[00:22:32] mural, which basically goes onto six four by eight sheet panels and it’s of Miamisburg, Ohio for their new Kroger. And they pay you well for this. So I designed it, they chose it. And it just offers all little pieces of Miamisburg with their river the mound, the Victorian homes. So that’s in my studio right now, and I have.
[00:22:56] I think two more weeks yet to finish it, which I am [00:23:00] actually on.
[00:23:01] Rodney: You are on track. Not, I, I love it. I love it. I mean but I mean, I, I love those commissions that pay the bills. I mean, that’s, yeah. Yeah.
[00:23:07] Amy: And then on Monday, I’m installing a piece for the Metro Library, their new location the Northmont location in Inglewood.
[00:23:16] And it’s focused on really because it’s so close to Marie all garden. Mm-hmm. , I went with wild flowers. Growing up and literally just laying in a field of wildflowers, Ohio wildflowers. And I’m excited to hang that. And that’s a nice big two piece panel. I just got a grant from the National Endowment of Arts. I had the opportunity to curate all of the art at our New Five Rivers Health Center the Edgemont campus and. , they went out and they bought all local art. Their commitment to local artists is phenomenal. And then they had all this art and they didn’t know what to do [00:24:00] with it.
[00:24:00] And so I got to go through it and arrange it throughout the building, which was really a lot of fun. But then as I sat there, I’m like, you guys have 88 exam rooms without. We need to do something about this. And so the grant gave me money to go into some of their area elementary schools, and I’m working with the students and we’re creating art for the exam rooms.
[00:24:28] Rodney: You’re really connected to the community and I love that. And so you’re, so this whole, it’s like. Because you’re at a place now as an art maker, you’re established. so one of the things that, you know, with, with making those kind of connections to the community, is that important to you?
[00:24:43] That it’s community based and it’s local artists? I mean, that’s important.
[00:24:46] Amy: It’s really important. And I, I, let me, I have to mention that this grant through the National Endowment of Arts came through Culture Works, Dayton, Ohio. I have to mention that cuz they’re important
[00:24:57] You know, the thing I, I designed this [00:25:00] mural for downtown Riverscape and the thing that was most important, you’re gonna talk about that? Yeah. To me was I wanted the community to feel ownership in it. I wanted it to speak to everybody. I wanted it to speak to the people that wanna fish. I wanted it speak to the kayakers to the, the people that love the nature.
[00:25:19] I just wanted everybody to be a part of it.
[00:25:22] Rodney: That’s pretty cool. I was gonna say, cuz it, for the, for for our listeners, the mural is at the Riverscape, which is our, our dad metro park site. It’s a beautiful mural. I think we’ve actually featured said mural on the art show.
[00:25:37] You did? Yes, we did. See, this is a full circle moment there . So people can actually, people can actually go and watch the segment and actually see the work and it’s, and, but I love the fact that you, it’s never just, your work is never just about the self indulgences. Amy, like, I’m miss self indulging.
[00:25:54] Well, it’s, it’s, it’s like you, you’re saying it’s like making, transforming the [00:26:00] centerpieces for a soup kitchen for, for the, for mm-hmm. making art that’s gonna be en embraced and enjoyed by the community. There’s always that other layer. Is that what drives you to make, or is it, what, what’s the fundamental essence of what drives you to make what you make and how you make it.
[00:26:20] Amy: Yeah, I think you’ve got that right there. There’s always a problem and there’s a solution. And I guess I would consider myself a visual problem solver. And whenever there’s an opportunity to create art I wanna bring the attention to something that matters most. Just like with all the plastic, I really wanted to bring attention to recycling and we really need to recycle, especially the single use plastic.
[00:26:46] and you start researching it. And fun fact, every American family takes home 1500 single use shopping bags a year, and only 1% is being recycled, which is ridiculous. And then I have a daughter, [00:27:00] she lives in Manhattan. And there are no plastic bags anywhere in the city. We can do that all over our country.
[00:27:07] There’s no reason we can’t eliminate the single use plastic. But as far as a visual problem solver and I wanna bring attention to things I did another mural. It ended up, we, we refer to it as the love doves and it’s in Dayton. , but it really gives reference to Paul Lawrence Dunbar and this beautiful poem that he wrote.
[00:27:27] And it was about love and doves. And with Dayton being the center of the Dayton Accords, I just felt it was really important to show the peace Doves and Dayton, you know, major history happened here with the Bosnia Herzegovina war, that they were able to settle it here in Dayton, Ohio..
[00:27:47] Rodney: That matters. I, I, I love the fact that you’ve tied that all in and, and I rem what I love is the fact that a lot of people don’t recognize art and politics and culture and society.
[00:27:58] It’s all intertwined. Absolutely. So these [00:28:00] questions absolutely. Solutions. Maybe look to the artists for solutions to our global problems. And I think you identify it with the single use. The fact that that fact that a family has 15 uses, 1500 single use bags.
[00:28:12] Amy: Can you believe that?
[00:28:13] Rodney: That’s a lot of waste. I mean, as a, it is something to ponder, consider, and so, but you’ve turned it into works of art to still make a point.
[00:28:22] You know, we could do better , which is, I love that you pointed like we could, if it could happen in Manhattan, it can happen here in Dayton, Ohio. Exactly. It’s speaking to Manhattan and speaking of Manhattan, what, what I love is the clearly creativity runs in the DNA n of the deals is that your daughter is an art maker in her own right.
[00:28:42] Amy: She’s just not a afraid of anything. There is no fear. She just jumps in and does it. Which, you know, she’s young. ,
[00:28:51] Rodney: they’re young. They, we, we, they, they jump without parachutes. And so because, so you do, you go and see when you go to visit her in New York, do you go see a lot?
[00:28:59] I [00:29:00] mean, I know you do, but for our viewers, so what’s, who has excited you? Like you’ve gone to New York, like, who is like jumping out to you saying, oh, this is somebody we’re following.
[00:29:09] Amy: You know, I really like the little dive galleries and the name, they’re, they’re not well known. The larger galleries, it’s just weird how some of the stuff becomes,
[00:29:27] Worth a lot of money, and I don’t know if I’ll ever understand that part of it. ,
[00:29:32] Rodney: which, but
[00:29:32] Amy: I do, I really like, I like the experimental odd art.
[00:29:36] Rodney: So, I mean, so how do you find, I mean, I mean, how do you find those dive places? Is your daughter just like tapped in, like, because she’s so young, she knows where the, it’s like this is where you go.
[00:29:47] Do you need to hook up with a, you know, like somebody who’s young in the sense of, Hey, take me on a journey to places in New York, not seen.
[00:29:55] Amy: That and there are some apps out there is it Seesaw that you [00:30:00] can find whatever’s going on that weekend. You know, there are openings every single day somewhere.
[00:30:05] Rodney: Oh, I love it. I love it. And so, I mean, cuz you’re seeing I love it, you know. That their apps. And do you, I would encourage most people, if you’re giving, and I think you would agree, if you go, if you’re going on vacation, go look at some art. Absolutely. I think that’s far more, I think it’s far more satisfying than just laying on the beach, quite frankly.
[00:30:25] But, you know, go experience some art and so I agree. What, so, because we, you know, it was like, is there, is there one artist. for you. Cuz I, cuz I, your work is so uniquely tied to you and your thoughts and your philosophies on making and your playfulness. Was there one artist that, that really you admired and said, this is kind of inspired me to work in the way that I’m working?
[00:30:52] Amy: That’s a hard questions. That’s like asking me my favorite color or my favorite child. There are too many. There are really [00:31:00] too many and everybody is so different in their own way. I, I’m sorry, Rodney. I just don’t think I can answer it. I really, you know, the traditional the Monets the. The whole surrealism movement.
[00:31:14] I really like John d or Jim dying at one point. I just couldn’t get enough of him. There are just so many, you know, I really love the whole DAA movement. I like weird art.
[00:31:25] Rodney: I love the fact you love word art. I think that’s why, I think that’s why we’re kindred spirits. I mean, I, you know, cause I, because I, I just love a good performative art piece.
[00:31:35] Like if there’s music and dance connected to visuals, I’m like, I’m in, this is crazy and weird. Yeah. I, I need these kind of, I need a combination of elements because I’m like you in that sense of visual, but I, I need that energy Yes. Of motion. I recognize that that’s how I, that’s how I work. I, I work with music blaring and me dancing around the piece and making movement while I’m making it.
[00:31:57] So you, so you’re just kinda like [00:32:00] stimulus, stimulus. So I have a question cuz this is a question I’ve always wanted to ask a kindred spirit. If you, if money was no object, and this is so stealing from talk art, the podcast, Uhhuh if money was no object, but it’s a riff. What kind of art project, would you just do like, if nothing, if like there was no cost involved that you would make, like what would you do if there was mo, if money was no object, if nothing could stop you from making it.
[00:32:29] Amy: This is so weird. I’ve never even thought about this before, but you know what jumped right into my mind.
[00:32:34] I would do like a huge Christo over the Statue of Liberty in my typography.
[00:32:40] can I do that please?
[00:32:42] Rodney: Yes. I mean it, it’s like money’s no object. This is the fantasy version of art making projects.
[00:32:47] Amy: And I’ll sew it all out of fused plastic. The material, it all be fused plastic over the Statue of Liberty, and I’ll paint on top of it.
[00:32:57] Rodney: Oh, . [00:33:00] I love it, Amy. I love it. That’s the kind of stuff that I love.
[00:33:05] That’s, but that’s what, that’s what makes you such a great, great, great person to hang out with and bounce ideas off. Well, now it’s, I’m just too kind. You make great art. I mean, it’s, it’d be one thing if you, Hey, Amy, you know how I am about certain things. , I have an opinion about everything. You know, brainstorm.
[00:33:21] If I love something,
[00:33:21] I love something. Brainstorming is so much fun with a group of people. We should just go do that some weekend. I
[00:33:28] think we should, while we need is some talk radio, npr, listen’s, just plastic bags and make some stuff. So what, what would be your advice to an up and coming young artist like, like, I love this brainstorming, but if there was, other than brainstorming, what would you tell a young artist?
[00:33:45] who’s thinking about taking that brave step into creativity, what would you tell them?
[00:33:50] Amy: The thing that I think is most important, and this is probably for everyone, get out there and visit everything you can. So many [00:34:00] people say that, you know, Dayton, there’s nothing to do. There is so much to do. Just go find it.
[00:34:06] Go into every little crevice of every building. There’s something going on every weekend, every day, all the time. You know that Rodney?
[00:34:15] Rodney: Oh, yeah. I, I, I say explore. I, I echo you sentiment. Get involved because it’s, it’s important to, it, it stimulates the ideas. It was like, you know, I, I, I was very lucky that, you know, when I was making this transition to the performative multidisciplinary art making that mm-hmm.
[00:34:36] Dayton didn’t say no to it. Like there wasn’t like a raised eyebrow, like, what’s this guy doing? You know, putting sod. A pool of water and a third floor of a building with video productions and dancers. . Yes. I mean, so I’m in, I’m into that, Mel. That’s what I got excited about. Let’s wrap the, set Your liberty in plastic bags with typography.
[00:34:56] Oh, yes, yes. I, that could be, [00:35:00] oh, if anyone’s listening, listening, that is a multimillion million dollar idea that could happen now.
[00:35:06] Amy: There are so many other places I wanna wrap. Let’s go to London and let’s wrap the gherkin.
[00:35:11] Rodney: So and I, and London is my one of my favorite cities because I actually, a lot of people don’t know Well, well, a lot of people don’t know that. I went to school in London, in England. I went to Beaumont College in Reading. Exchange program. Yes, yes. So I have this affinity. I was there for a semester and a half.
[00:35:28] I mean, I kind of took a little bit extra time, but, but a semester it was like a, it was, it was joyous. 16 weeks of my life, it was real. That was a real game changer for me. That’s awesome. Back in the eighties, back in the day, so let’s, so as we’re bringing things to a close, , is there any big gallery show coming for you where people can see your work?
[00:35:52] Amy: Well I prob in January, I I have a solo exhibition at the James Cancer Center in Columbus, but [00:36:00] I don’t think a, they want a lot of people in there, you know, still with Covid going on. Yeah. But
[00:36:06] Rodney: there, but you, but the Kroger’s is coming, so that’s good. . Right,
[00:36:10] Amy: right. Everybody who visits the new Kroger in Miamisburg, Ohio, I think they open in January.
[00:36:16] Rodney: There you go. See, you can, you could see some Amy deal art and, and, and, and do your grocery shopping at the same time. Exactly. I love it. So Amy, you’re, you’re, you’re super awesome and thank you for sharing everything. That’s you. That’s fabulous.
[00:36:35] Amy: Thank you, Rodney. It was so much fun to talk to you as always.
[00:36:40] Rodney: Ditto
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