Amy Stephens

28th of February 

Amy Stephens studied in the University of Reading and then at Chelsea College of Art and Design London, this is where she received her BA and MA.  She is also a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors and the Contemporary Art Society London.

I remember at her lecture that she said " a successful piece is one you remember" and this was something I could not agree more with!

This helped me think of my own practise. To me a successful piece is one that gets a reaction and thats what makes it memorable. Wether it is a good or bad reaction it still gets that recognition. This went  on to inspire my work for the Walker Art Gallery where i went on to do my practise revolved around all these reactions and interpretations. Her lecture has definitely had a positive influence on my own practise as it has helped me develop my ideas further and helped contextualise them.

Stephens work is site specific and she is interested in architecture, feminist art and painting with very obscure objects. Stephens resists in calling her work finished and I believe this is relatable to many artists out there. I found this interesting as influential elements to her were revolved mostly around nature. Things like wood and rocks.

I found that most of the visiting artists this year were not my cup of tea which is completely fine as i admired many other aspects of their practise.

I strongly admired her dedication of the careful selection process that goes into gathering materials and the aftermath of how she narrates a material turning it into a piece of work.

When thinking what to create for the Walker Art Gallery i was reminded of how Amy Stephens creates work that responds to something that already exists. This also help spark that idea of I could make a work of something that already exists ( my own painting) and then make another piece inspired by the reactions and interpretations that it would receive.

I played around with some ideas but i still wanted my work to be original. How could i do that and make a response? After battling with ideas that would come and go I came to the conclusion of creating a piece that I could get people to react to. Then with that reaction or even interpretation create a piece that would compliment it. So I did! I created "Concluded Interpretations".