Cakewalk

Cakewalk A new body of work based on the fundraising tradition of the cakewalk; celebrating communities raising more support than money, an earnest custom illustrated in the distinctive mixed media artwork of Amy Rice.

Saturday, October 11 Chowgirls Parlor, 1222 2nd St NE, Minneapolis, MN 

3pm Doors Open

3:30pm Artist talk and discussion about fundraising with Carolyn Payne, Executive Director of The Soo Visual Arts Center and Heidi Andermack for Cultivate Northeast. 

4pm A real cakewalk featuring cakes from some of Minneapolis’s finest bakers and all proceeds going to the build out of the Eastside Food Co-op

5-7pm Artist Reception 

Amy Rice is a fiscal year 2014 recipient of an Artist Initiative grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund

Stencilingfreunde

The German language version of my book, Playing With Stencils is getting great reviews. "Stencilingfreunde have a new Bible." 


Stencilingfreunde: people who stencil?

Interview with Quirk Gallery

I have a solo show that just opened at Quirk Galley in Richmond, Virginia. They did an interview with me about the show and you can read it here.

Holiday Open Studio Sale--Come Say Hello! Meet Miss Pumpkin!

Friday, December 13, 5-9 pm

Saturday, December 14, 12-6

California Building 

2205 California Street NE

Studio 602

Minneapolis, MN 55418

Taproot Magazine

I received a copy of the Taproot Magazine with my art in it in the mail yesterday. There could not be a publication more my cup of tea; fine art and photography, poems and short stories, articles on generational beekeeping and making paint from local dye sources, recipes, there is even a pull out pattern included for a cute tunic. OH, and some how-to’s for rag rugs and herbal candles.  PLUS no advertisements! PLUS they pay their contributors (in more than free copies). I am subscribing and you should too. 

Some dogs in sweaters went to New Hampshire

artstream gallery

Ooh La La!!! "Playing With Stencils" translated to French

My book Playing With Stencils is now available in French here. 

A Series for a Lifetime: #1 Goldenrod

#1 Goldenrod: solibago ribbelli
Hand Pulled Relief Print on Linen with Gouache and Floss
16" x 20"
2013

Last month, after two years of focused nose-to-the-grindstone working and saving, my sweetheart and I purchased 23 acres of heaven near Mora, Minnesota. 

We have so many good ideas, so much ambition and excitement. There is so much work to do but most of it can't start until spring so until then we get to dream and scheme.

I declared for myself the ambitious (and most likely lifetime goal) of identifying and documenting in art every species of plant on our property. I bought a couple big fat reference books of Minnesota plants and have begun identifying.

Goldenrod was first because there was just so much of it and it seemed as good as any place to start. I have found out since that my Grandpa Ed had a fondness for Goldenrod...it may be just a coincidence but it still makes me feel like I am on the right track.

Dogs in Sweaters Barking at Snowflakes or Stars

 

Over the course of a week I made 28 small original paintings of dogs in sweaters barking at snowflakes or stars. I was in heaven. I had to make myself stop and move on. They are mainly headed to the Soo Visual Arts Centers second SooLOCAL Holiday Shop.

A few are travelling to artsream gallery in New Hampshire for a show in December, and a few more art are on their way to Art Star Gallery in Philadelphia.

I had prints professionally made of my five favorites at Smart Set Printers here in Minneapolis. They are available in my etsy store.

Exciting News: I wrote a Book! Playing with Stencils

Playing with Stencils, originally uploaded by Amy Rice.

Playing with Stencils is a how-to book that aims to teach the reader a new art-making technique. Unlike other stencil books that furnish already made templates and a single idea of what to stencil it on, this book encourages the readers to create their own stencils by teaching. Simple instructions for how-to create a stencil combined with ambitious projects for inspiration makes this book unique. You can pre-order your copy now, it will be in stores in May.

In memory of Grandpa Ed and in celebration of an Age of Empathy

I didn't want to tell my Grandpa Ed, a sixth generation dairy farmer I was vegan.  When I finally did, his reaction surprised me. He said he understood. He said he was proud of me. He said, “It is pretty neat that we live in an age where you have the luxury (and he emphasized the word luxury) to live such an empathetic lifestyle.” That was almost 20 years ago. He’s been gone six years this spring. Seed catalogues and chickens make me think of my Grandpa Ed and lately I've been thinking about him a lot. He loved chickens. I have a scrapbook he made as a child and it is full of pictures of chickens.  This is a photo of him and me and Chicken Alfredo.  Chickens liked him too.

I would love to have a couple of chickens, but I live in an apartment in a big city. I work hard so that I can have a lifestyle someday that will allow for another rescue dog and some rescue chickens. Yep, I said rescue chickens. Every year, domestic fowl, mostly chickens, are impounded by Minneapolis Animal Control. These birds are victims of neglect, abuse and abandonment. Some are the discarded outcome of "nature lessons” for children or after a hobby that no longer holds interest. After their release, Chicken Run Rescue provides the birds with temporary shelter and vet care, locates and screens adopters within 90 miles of the Twin Cities and transports the birds to their new homes. I have been pondering over how Grandpa Ed would feel about Chicken Run Rescue. I think he would find it both absurd and fascinating. I think he would say it was pretty neat to live in an age where people had the luxury to live an empathetic lifestyle. I think Ed would have been down with chicken empathy. I recently decided to un-follow all animal rescue pages on facebook because it caused me too much sorrow to not be able to help. Then a wise friend said, “You don’t need to adopt to help, why you don’t use your art and your
audience instead for now?”

 
 So that is what I will do. In memory of Grandpa Ed and in celebration of an Age of Empathy I will donate 50% of the retail price of all my art that contains a chicken to Chicken Run Rescue. I have just posted 4 new hand-painted Gocco prints on antique journal pages of song lyrics from the 1930’s. I have more chicken art and will continue to add pieces as they sell.
Here is the link in case you missed it in the text: www.etsy.com/shop/amyriceart?section_id=13192785

My Line O Scribes: A Love Story

In the fall of 2009 I found a small antique Line O Scribe sign press machine at an estate sale.  I didn't know what I would do with it, but I bought it. When I called my friend and mentor that night to tell him what I had found he said, “That’s a game changer.”  He was right.

Sign press machines like this were used in stores to make posters, signs and tags. It uses movable type like a letterpress but the ink delivery method is different and they were not made to leave a strong imprint like a letterpress machine. I played around with it but mostly it was shelved UNTIL

Two winters later I found a giant one just like it at an antique store.  Had I not bought the small one I would have never even paid attention. I won’t even tell you what I paid for it because you would hate me.  It came with 5 full font sets. It is the heaviest thing I own next to my car.

It was an antiquing weekend and the next day I picked up a stack of antique atlases. I heard “You Can Go Your Own Way” in the car on the way home and it was one of those giant light bulb moments.

I now have 6 saying in the series, they are all song lyrics about direction and I print them on the pages of antique atlas. They have been super popular in my etsy store and have subsidized my art career so that I was able to quit my day job.

I have started to use the letters in my fine art as well.

 My goal for 2013 is to design my own type and have it made into letters I can use with my sign press. Anyone with ideas on this…I would love to hear from you!