Amy Ahlstrom

Lives and works in San Mateo, CA, USA

Artist statement

I am a textile artist creating curved appliquéd quilts. My silk and cotton quilts employ surreal imagery and intricate quilting patterns to suggest landscapes envisioning our collective environment. Specifically, my work visualizes my internal mental state as a type of weather in relationship with external ‘weather’; the personal, political, and physical climates we live within. I work intuitively, cutting and piecing fabric shapes and adding hand-cut appliqués. I quilt using a free-motion technique; essentially drawing with thread. The goal is to remain within the creative process to generate a quilt that embodies a dreamlike quality. My quilts combine representational imagery and abstracted forms to reimagine the landscape in several dimensions and timespans concurrently; one section combines neon-bright silks and cottons to form abstracted images of land, sky, and water, while the other section employs matte black cotton to evoke earth and shadow. Skulls signify human presence, while flowers convey rebirth and regeneration. Representational images of disembodied single eyes co-exist with curved abstract shapes that seem to continually evolve. The curves reference the sinuous, organic shapes of the body and the land. Throughout, the juxtaposition of dark and light and the references to meteorological terms within the titles of the quilts serve as analogies for living within the chaos and cruelty of our current political era. My quilts depict existing between and among...

Artwork