Amy Jarding
Amy Jarding
Amy Jarding is a visual artist living in Sioux Falls. She creates mixed media pieces, obscuring everyday objects into surreal visions with the use of collage, painting and sewing on her canvas. Bright pops of color and small hints of humor offer the viewer their own experience within each piece. This exploratory nature extends to her work with textiles, in which she creates large scale weavings from yarn and found material. Hailing praise towards process, Jarding finds the creative development of her work just as important as the completed piece.
My current body of work speaks of a dedication to a continuous learning process through the motivation of exploration and accumulation, holding focus on process in an attempt to rid the viewer of the the illusion of production. The artistic process should be held as ritual, incomplete or failed pieces sometimes more precious and informative than a completed piece. My inspiration to create comes from interaction, actively wading through a flurry of interests and keeping a soft eye to the seemingly mundane routine of everyday existence.
This diligent search is reflective in my variety of work, pieces coming together in slow, focused study, learning based on trial and error and wandering interest. My approach to creation is an active attempt to surprise myself; by not planning before I begin a piece, it exists due to instinctive discernment, my mood and environment influencing the final outcome. Working within the realm of abstraction as a means of referential control. By blurring the obvious, I am creating my own brand of disinformation, my own interconnectedness with the overlooked and under-examined objects in my world.
My creative process has remained these miniature isolated journeys, experiments with color, viscosity, patience... avoidance. Avoiding actual representation. Focusing on the influence rather than the end. I'm constantly learning what I enjoy, what techniques feel appropriate, and adapting to an environment that gives me comfort. Comfort. I have been searching for comfort for so long. Being a single, overweight 30 year old is a constant struggle of empowerment and self-doubt. Through my artistic practice I have grown strength in my convictions, my work-my mind-my body finally starting to feel like they are truly my own.
"Amy’s work is something fresh. Her background is in academic English and History, but (thankfully) she began creating visual art several years ago. She relies on her intuition to guide her next move, rather than formal artistic training. This time-intensive process yields collages and mixed media work that appears playful and inviting, but doesn’t sacrifice boldness. She feels that working responsively produces more genuine images and reactions."
