Biography

Amy Morel is a visual artist whose welded steel sculptures and paper collages reflect the shapes and tones of the natural landscape, embrace the lyrical movement of the figure, and adhere to the precision of graphic design.

Her larger steel works give the appearance of a drawing in space. Each cut and welded section is affixed to maximize depth and shadow, often echoing the form of a mountain range or the steep dip of a nearby valley. The forms are then complicated by allusions to swirling figures, silhouettes of faces, and dancing bodies. As they intermingle, distinct compositions emerge and recede as the viewer navigates new angles and points of view under, around, and within the sculpture. An application of flat paint in colors evocative of the region helps amplify their sense of place.

While her sculptures command attention through their physical presence, Morel's works on paper and collages mirror the sculptures' formal qualities but allow for a more serendipitous result. Their color combinations give a nod to music venue posters inextricably linked to the Pacific Northwest. Her earlier upbringing in the area merges deftly with her more recent decades living in Vermont, two places equally embracing of their natural environment.

Morel was born and raised in the Seattle, WA, area. She received her BA from Dartmouth College, her MFA from Tufts University/The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and she also studied at the New York Studio School. Morel is a recipient of a Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant Award. Select exhibitions include the Cue Art Foundation, NY; the Boston Center for the Arts, MA; Burlington City Arts, VT; and CristineRose/Josée Bienvenu Gallery, NY. Her work has been shown extensively in the Upper Valley of New Hampshire and Vermont, and has been placed in several private collections. She has spent over 20 years living and working on a farm in Barnard, VT, with her husband and three children.