ARTIST BIO
Laura Amphlett is a California born- but desert dwelling artist currently residing in Arizona. Amphlett first showed promise as a young art student when she began her art career in an art focused high school at Metropolitan Arts Institute in Phoenix. Upon graduation at Metro, she received the annual “Artist of the Year” award. She then went on to receive a full ride scholarship through the esteemed Eric Fischl scholar program at Phoenix College. After a slight lapse in her education, Amphlett traveled to Bath, England to study Fine Arts at Bath Spa University. Laura then returned home to Arizona to continue her education and received her BFA in Sculpture from Arizona State University in Fall 2017 with a GPA of 3.6. She continues to produce work with the hopes of returning to study to earn her Master’s Degree and eventually become a professor in the arts.
Amphlett’s preferred method to creating artwork is to pick a somewhat arbitrary starting point and let the work tell her where it wants to go; to her this is the truest form of expression. Ideas that cannot be actualized in words and exploring the idea of bringing the subconscious to the physical. Making the intangible tangible. Drawing has always been integral to Amphlett’s work, as a basis or starting point to any given idea, she use drawings from personal sketchbooks or fragments from digital images as seeds for future works. She uses found images, textures, and materials in conjunction with personal drawings in smaller scale pieces, which translate well to her larger works. She often returns to various sketchbooks and pull ideas from seemingly fleeting thoughts on the pages, and these drawings are converted to digital files that eventually translate through a machine (laser engraver, vinyl cutter, printer, etc.) to reinterpret or reappropriate. These images form a language that is continually developing and become the vocabulary to Laura’s work. For her, this process is almost like actualizing the subconscious or dreams which plays upon the sentiment of the Surrealist movement. Amphlett is interested in creating more substantial sculptural and/or dimensional pieces from these sketchbook drawings and collages, playing with a connection between the 2D and 3D world.
The use of layering, transparency, and symbolism suggest a mysterious yet personal narrative open to the viewer to investigate and interpret. An answer is not always what Laura is interested in, it is more of the question that informs her work. These questions often relate to identity, human interaction, and existence.
Amphlett’s preferred method to creating artwork is to pick a somewhat arbitrary starting point and let the work tell her where it wants to go; to her this is the truest form of expression. Ideas that cannot be actualized in words and exploring the idea of bringing the subconscious to the physical. Making the intangible tangible. Drawing has always been integral to Amphlett’s work, as a basis or starting point to any given idea, she use drawings from personal sketchbooks or fragments from digital images as seeds for future works. She uses found images, textures, and materials in conjunction with personal drawings in smaller scale pieces, which translate well to her larger works. She often returns to various sketchbooks and pull ideas from seemingly fleeting thoughts on the pages, and these drawings are converted to digital files that eventually translate through a machine (laser engraver, vinyl cutter, printer, etc.) to reinterpret or reappropriate. These images form a language that is continually developing and become the vocabulary to Laura’s work. For her, this process is almost like actualizing the subconscious or dreams which plays upon the sentiment of the Surrealist movement. Amphlett is interested in creating more substantial sculptural and/or dimensional pieces from these sketchbook drawings and collages, playing with a connection between the 2D and 3D world.
The use of layering, transparency, and symbolism suggest a mysterious yet personal narrative open to the viewer to investigate and interpret. An answer is not always what Laura is interested in, it is more of the question that informs her work. These questions often relate to identity, human interaction, and existence.
