Bio
Amelia
M. Schroeder was born and raised in Appalachia, works predominantly in oils,
acrylics, and words, and also takes detours into photography, charcoal and textiles. After earning a BA in Studio Art, Cum Laude, with a
painting concentration from Marietta College of Ohio, Schroeder attended a
Figure Drawing Marathon at New York Studio School. Despite moves around the
country, Schroeder has exhibited in national and international shows, and was
represented by Purple Moon Gallery (Charleston, WV) before moving to Wichita,
then to land of the Tsalagi, the Miccosukee Creek, and the Uchee Peoples (NC). Schroeder’s chapbook, Hillbilly Pillory, is available from BottleCap Press; more work can
be found or is forthcoming in Hood of Bone, Understory
by Loblolly Press, Dark City Poets Anthology, The Dewdrop, and others. Visual art may be perused at local venues and at
ameliaschroeder.blogspot.com.
Statement
I firmly believe that we are
directly impacted and influenced by our surroundings, even without our conscious
awareness. So, why add more ugliness to the world? Even with this in mind when
I paint, it’s a constant dance and battle between creating a beautiful piece, and
using my experiences, which aren’t always pretty. I want to give up art
altogether but I can’t seem to; it’s like some chronic disease that has afflicted
me since the age of three. My inspiration comes from nature and emotion, and as
much as I try to be a hard ass, I have to paint because my heart is constantly
breaking. It feels sometimes as though the sorrow of Mother Earth and all her women are on
my shoulders.
To this end, my paintings started
out in undergrad as a statement against what humans are doing to the planet. “Look
at these pretty colors and cells and feel bad about what you’re doing and
change things.” But I’m not sure that there’s a better advocate for the beauty
of nature than nature herself. The absurdity of using lumber-farm pine, GMO
cotton canvas and oil paints to convey all this wasn’t lost on me. I felt like
a fraud. It’s crazy that I might commune with some paint on a flat surface,
constantly producing more non-utilitarian objects, and hope to change the world
that way. So now I mostly salvage canvases and reuse scrap wood panels and have
given up on fancy artist statements that tell people what to feel about what I
do. If you can pause long enough to have an experience with my work, I just
hope that it’s your own, and that it brings deep and full appreciation of the
moment because that’s what I gain from creating it.
Contact me at...ameliaschroeder [at] yahoo [dot] com
Your artwork is amazing! We so look forward to having you at Turtle Island Preserve this spring!!!!
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