User:Hbri2002

Amy Ahlstrom
Amy Ahlstrom is a conceptual pop artist, who was born in Waukegan, Illinois on 1971. She began hand-sewing at five, machine sewing at ten, and sewed her own clothes in her teenage years. She graduated with a BFA in Fiber Arts from Northern Illinois University and continue earning a Master of Fine Arts in Fiber from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Ahlstrom has her quilt collections premaritally in Capital One, Google, San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. Her art is influenced by her experience with skill-screening and background in graphic design and comic book illustrator. Ahlostrom's quilts form a visual map of the cognitive distortions she experiences and it is designed to promote open conversations about mental health. She created a series of quilts using depictions of the word "OK" because it relates to mental health. She believes that we often say we are "OK" even when the truth is far more complex. Her new solo show, All Or Nothing, ex

Art Meaning
Amy Ahlstrom makes her quilts that reflect a vision of an urban place that is both real, imagined, and her quilts are thematically dense with full of layers. She used hundreds of digital photographs and designed a collage by computer, make paper patterns, and sew quilts made of silk and cotton. Her art reflects the experience of city life and serve as an historical record of a neighborhood and is in the moment. Her new solo show, All Or Nothing, examines her personal relationship with mental health in hopes of destigmatizing living with mental illness. Ahlstrom hopes to challenge the idea of what a quilt can be, and to inspire the viewer to contemplate the deeper meaning she is conveying through silk and cotton.

Education
Amy has a Bachelor of Arts in Fiber in Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL., she also has Master of Arts in Fiber, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL.

Exhibitions and Awards

 * Curated by Christine Koppes, Curator and Director of Public Programs, Institute of Contemporary Art San José Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA. April 9–May 16, 2021
 * Fleishhacker Foundation Nominee, 2017-2019 Eureka Fellowship
 * Juror’s Choice Award, SF Open Studios Exhibition at SomArts, October 2016
 * Selected by Maria Jenson, Executive Director, SomArts
 * Artist in Residence, San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, 3 month residency and two exhibitions. October-December 2016
 * 2010 Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art (SECA) Award  Nominee, San Francisco Museum of Contemporary Art
 * ArtSpan’s Selections 2015 SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA. January 23-25 2015
 * On The Tilt; Wonderland SF, San Francisco, CA. November 20, 2015
 * Decade: Ten Years of Urban Quilts; Solo exhibit as Artist in Residence; San Jose Quilt Museum, October 7-November 19, 2016
 * Flower Child; Modern Eden Gallery; San Francisco, CA. August 12–September 2, 2017
 * Left Coast Annual Juried Exhibition 2018, Curated by Claudia Schmuckli, The Fine Arts Museums Contemporary Curator, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA. April 13–May 20, 2018
 * Loved To Death, Modern Eden Gallery, San Francisco, CA. October 6–28, 2017
 * 6th Annual Summer Juried Show Part II, Sylvia White Gallery, Ventura, CA September 21-October 19 2013.
 * Dis/Order: Pro Arts Juried Annual 2013, Selections by Naomi Beckwith, Curator at MCA Chicago, IL., Pro Arts Gallery, Oakland, CA. December 7, 2012-January 11 2013.

Permanent Collections

 * Capital One National Art Collection at the San Francisco Digital Lab

101 Post St, 2nd floor, San Francisco, CA 94108


 * Google San Francisco

345 Spear St, San Francisco, CA. 94105


 * San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles

520 S. 1st Street, San Jose, CA. 95113