After wrapping her first solo exhibition earlier this spring at the International Gallery of Contemporary Art, ceramicist and artist Amy Schilling says she is diving into the deep end and making art full time.
“It was very nerve-wracking and exciting at the same time because I’ve been making these pieces for myself basically,” she said. “I get feedback from my fellow students, and so I have some of their feedback, but never really general public feedback.”
“The Animals Within” highlights the struggles of mental illness, Schilling said, using sculpted ceramic creatures that sit silhouetted each in a hand-built frame. “Feast for the Taking” features a bound and crying lamb adorned with figs; “Intwined Eternally in Internal Suffrage” with eight rats all connected by their tails and a shared brain.
“When I was getting done with finishing the show, I was like, ‘I’m never doing this again, it’s so much stress.’ I think I had a permanent eye twitch for a while,” Schilling said.
Schilling grew up in Moose Pass, and was surrounded by creatives in her life: her mom and grandmother.
“Growing up I was always drawing a lot,” Schilling said. “In high school I wanted to be a tattoo artist. Sometime after high school — I feel like the majority of teenagers do this, where they get into a depressive episode and just aren’t sure what to do with their life.”
During that time, Schilling saved up enough money to move into her own spot in Anchorage, where she was attending school for culinary arts.
She says that doing both ceramics and culinary work can be tiring. Baking shifts are typically very late at night or early in the morning, she says, making her schedule opposite of her ceramics classes.
“I was just taking a handbuilt ceramic class to try and get myself back into art,” she said. “When I was in that depressive period, I wasn’t drawing a whole lot and wanted to better myself to get out of that depressive funk.”
Her work has also been at the Hugh McPeck Gallery at the University of Alaska Anchorage and the Anchorage Museum. Her piece, “Adapt/Survive” from her solo exhibition, which features a gecko holding his detached tail, won “best sculpture” at this year’s Student Juried Art Show.
Schilling is excited to create more functional wear, art prints and stickers for the summer market season. She will have a booth at Grow North Farm’s Pop-up Market on June 12 from 4-7 p.m.
Sam Davenport is a writer residing in Anchorage. She's a leo and a plant-person, and loves spending quality time with her dog, Aspen. She is a Real Housewives fan and has been called a Bravo historian.