Amy Faris's dirty little secret is that while she has taught hundreds of classes and workshops on the use of acrylic paint, her first love is oil paint. She believes that as a maker of art she may flow freely between all media and that in the end, it is the visual idea and its clear communication that is the main business of the artist. All tools, all materials, can and should be used to serve the concept. Curiosity, and a willingness to explore, generates new ideas and new work.

Amy makes paintings and drawings, based on observation and on photographic and video imagery. She is most interested in representing the human figure, but is also influenced by still life and the landscape. She often works extensively on each piece, scraping down and starting over, feeling the build up on the surface that occurs as a by-product of the work process - making something structural, carving something out, getting rid of it, putting it back, the back and forth, give and take, and then, at some point - when the idea is fully realized - a stopping.

Amy is a graduate of Moore College of Art and Design and the New York Academy of Art. For seven years she worked within the education program at Liquitex Acrylics and in this capacity presented technical demonstrations on acrylic paint at art schools in the NY/NJ area including: RISD, Cooper Union, Pratt, SVA, Parsons School of Design, FIT, Hunter College, Princeton University and the National Academy of Design. She currently teaches at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft NJ, and serves as a member of technical staff at Winsor Newton. Her studio is located in Asbury Park, NJ.