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Mixed-Media Artist Amy J Dyck Makes Peace With Her Inner Demons cover

Mixed-Media Artist Amy J Dyck Makes Peace With Her Inner Demons

“Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself. (I am large, I contain multitudes).”

Deemed “trashy, profane, and obscene” on its publication, Walt Whitman’s most meme-able line is something of a proverb on social media these days. Nestled into the stanzas of “Song of Myself” from Whitman’s seminal Leaves of Grass, the line could act as mixed-media artist Amy J Dyck’s personal mantra.

“In the mysterious internal landscape, where our experiences are not solid, knowable objects, where our feelings come and go, and where our deeper selves reside, my work explores what it feels like to be human, alive, limited, with all the vulnerability, yearning, resilience, and complexity inherent inside us,” Amy writes in her artist statement.

‘Wheels’
‘Wheels’ (detail)

Working in collage, painting, and sculpture, Amy experiments with oil, wood, and paper until a complex image emerges from the puzzle pieces. Her focus is on women and the intricate, interior lives they often lead. “The creatures in the work are nuanced and strange, broken and fierce, and filled with conflicting parts as they figure out how to move forward and fight back in a world that can be rife with problems,” she notes.

Surrounded by ghosts, monsters, and magical beings, the women in Amy’s work battle personal demons with a subtle, restrained courage more akin to resilience than domination or subjugation. Her work hints at a deep-seated melancholy present in the female experience, a hidden struggle that suggests a willingness to make peace with the devil inside all of us.

“Parts of us can hold difficult memories and become protective of us and cause us to lash out; others hold our hopes or joy, others yet we may not understand,” Amy muses. “These parts of us can come into conflict, such as when we feel torn between two choices.” Refusing to choose, Amy corrals a glut of personality traits—both ugly and beautiful—into each work, creating nuanced portraits of women who rebuff the simplistic narrative thrust upon them.

My work explores what it feels like to be human, alive, limited, with all the vulnerability, yearning, resilience, and complexity inherent inside us.” — Amy J Dyck

Surrounded by ghosts, monsters, and magical beings, the women in Amy J Dyck’s work battle personal demons with a subtle, restrained courage.
‘Chaos and Order’
‘Wheel Monster’
Surrounded by ghosts, monsters, and magical beings, the women in Amy J Dyck’s work battle personal demons with a subtle, restrained courage.
‘Untitled With Buterfly’
Creature by Ocean’
Surrounded by ghosts, monsters, and magical beings, the women in Amy J Dyck’s work battle personal demons with a subtle, restrained courage.
‘Three Monsters’
Surrounded by ghosts, monsters, and magical beings, the women in Amy J Dyck’s work battle personal demons with a subtle, restrained courage.
‘Pink World’
‘Purple Monster’

Amy J Dyck: Website | Instagram | Purchase Work

All photos published with permission of the artist(s).

Want to be featured on NOT REAL ART? Email editor@notrealart.com with a short introduction and a link to your online portfolio or three images of your work.


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Morgan  Laurens 

Morgan Laurens (she/her/hers) is NOT REAL ART’s editor in chief. Morgan is an arts writer from the Midwest who enjoys saying “excuse me” when no actual pardon is needed. She specializes in grant writing and narrative-based storytelling for mission-driven artists and arts organizations. With a background in printmaking, pop culture, and classic literature, Morgan believes a girl’s best friend is the pile of books on her bedside table.

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