top of page

Biography

​

My gestural style – characteristic of German Expressionism – emphasizes the subjective expression of inner experiences. The truest picture of a moment – the figure of a place – occurs in a balanced abstraction of everyday perspectives. To convey this I combine line, form and colour to represent and yet slightly distort my subject matter. This creates a field of view that is both familiar and enigmatic.

​

Amid the organized chaos of Amy Dryers Studio, a bright canvas depicts a joyful little girl in a flower print dress, below it, an urban streetscape, the sky divided by wires and poles. They’re representative of her impressionistic style, deftly constructed of deep, contrasting colours and big painterly brushstrokes applied with the refined economy. They walk the line between representation and abstraction. Dryer’s images are about finding the extraordinary in the everyday. Finding that magic in paint is about discipline and experience, long hours at the easel. She doesn’t dwell on the process, but rather the ”right on moments” when intuition takes over and it all comes together. – Ian Doig

​

Amy Dryer attended the Alberta College of Art and Design, the Glasgow School of Art (Scotland) and the Fine Art program at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, to receive her Bachelor of Fine Arts. In 2014, she was among the Top 40 Under 40 Recipients chosen by Avenue Magazine, and in 2008, she was on the cover of Avenue Magazine as ‘Calgary’s Best.’ She has been featured as a ‘Profiled Artist’ in both Essential Magazine and Galleries West.

​

Amy completed an artist residency at Emma Lake, Saskatchewan in 2009 and at the Banff Centre in 2013. She attended an artist residency in January of 2017 in Reykjavik, Iceland. Dryer’s paintings are in a number of collections throughout Canada, and the US, including the Alberta Foundation for the Arts public art collection. Amy is based in Calgary.

​

​

artwork >>

bottom of page