Image in header courtesy of Mia Cross
Here at the Cambridge Art Association, we have an incredible staff that works hard to ensure the success of our Art Rental Program, education and professional programs, exhibition opportunities, fundraisers and SO much more. We want to take a moment to celebrate and re-introduce these individuals. Keep reading to learn more!
Amy Chen, Art Administration Intern | Amy Chen is a recent graduate who received her BFA and BA in studio art and political science from Washington University in St. Louis. While originally from East Tennessee, she has had the opportunity to live and create in various places and is pleased to call Cambridge, Massachusetts her home now. She has always been passionate about art and finding new ways to introduce art spaces to different audiences. In her free time, Amy enjoys taking pictures of squirrels.
You can see some of her work on her website!
Q & A
Where are you from? I grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee, but I spent the last 5 years living in Saint Louis, Missouri, and have been living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for a little over a year now.
Do you make art? Tell us about it! My art practice is heavily influenced by own experiences with my culture, surroundings, or current events, and I often make work engaging with politics, language, and human geographies. Much of my work is mixed media, but I often employ printmaking processes or thinking and enjoy working mostly on paper. Much of my work utilizes redaction or absence as a visual motif.
More recently, I have become interested in utilizing mapping to represent lived geographies and preserving memories of specific spaces.
Excerpt from a book I made using pronto plate lithography, image transfers, and mylar
Is there another form of making/creating that you love? Favorite hobbies? I love to use cooking to expand my appreciation and relationships to other cultures. I am always learning how to make new Chinese or Italian dishes. I also love watching movies, learning more about skincare, and playing Animal Crossing. Recently, I have also developed an interest in volleyball.
What are you most looking forward to learning about at CAA? One thing I am excited to learn is how to utilize marketing and communications skills to expand the reach and influence of arts institutions in their communities. I am passionate about bridging the gap between communities and the art institutions that represent them, and I am excited to work within CAA to learn more about the day-to-day operations of an art institution and how to best service the artists within their network as well as the greater community that CAA belongs to.
What’s the coolest art-related happening you’ve seen pop-up in the last year? While the pandemic has negatively affected my ability to see art in person, I have been able to take advantage of the abundance of virtual public programs from different art institutions across the country. I love being able to attend an online gallery talk from a museum in New York one day and then tune into a panel about the future of art museums the next day. An unforeseen positive result from everything moving online is that public programs that were previously limited to their immediate communities can now reach anyone in the world, and the number of resources to learn about or engage with art are greater than ever.
I also was able to visit the new MassArt Art Museum in the brief time that it was open at the beginning of the year, and I am excited to see the future of this museum and the exhibitions that it will bring to Boston.
Interacting with the installation by Joana Vasconcelos at the MassArt Art Museum (I’m not touching it!)
Do you have any favorite artists? Some of the artists that I really appreciate are Do Ho Suh, Bethany Collins, Xu Bing, and Zarina. I find myself being drawn to artists that engage with the concept of home and identity from a broader, global perspective. I also love the work by Titus Kaphar and admire how he redefines the limits of paintings to create complex and rich works that critique the very foundation of this nation and its legacy.