As Seen On : Amy Brnger
Next week, painter Amy Brnger and I are teaching an Artists in Business workshop through the Winslow Art Center, where we will be sharing the habits and practices that have helped us each launch and grow our own art businesses. As I have been preparing for this class, and thinking about the path that my own business has taken, I can’t help but reminisce about my over-decades and over-oceans friendship with Amy Brnger.
We met for the first time in Italy in the fall of 2002. I was one of eleven students in the first-ever semester of the UNH-in-Italy program in Ascoli Piceno. Amy was there with her husband Craig Hood, my UNH art professor, and their sweet daughter Audrey, and all of us were stumbling our way around this quaint, medieval, not-a-whole-lot-of-English-happening, tiny Italian city, mid-calf, near the Adriatic.This was before smartphones, no one had their own computer, just the shared one at the bookstore where we would wait in line for a 15 minutes session to check our email. We played chess and ate slices street pizza in the Piazza del Popolo. We devoured olive ascolane, and learned how to pit the olives, stuff them with ground meat and fry them too. We drank Anisette Milette and vino rosso and wandered over bridges built by Romans centuries ago. We (kind of) learned Italian and art history in an old Papal paper mill made of travertine. We washed our own clothes by hand in the sink. My jeans could have walked themselves to class.
A few weeks into our time there, I started babysitting for Audrey. We would go for walks and play hide and seek, and I would pretend to take my thumb off and make it disappear, dancing that edge between terror and glee until Amy and Craig would get home. When the semester ended, we all went back to New Hampshire, and still babysat for Audrey while I finished up my degree at UNH. And then I started teaching in Lawrence, then Italy, and Hungary, and Cayman, and our paths diverged, and diverged, and diverged.
But in January of 2016, our paths converged again, and we found ourselves in a new foreign land : business. I was sitting in an auditorium in Portland, Maine at a wholesale/trade show workshop with my wonderful new jeweler-friend Glynis Dixon of Earth Metalworks and when I saw Amy and her unmistakable curly q hair sitting a few rows up. We ended up having lunch together that day, sharing notes and laughs, hopes and strategies, and have continued meeting about these very same things over coffee every other month or so, for the last 6 years.
I am so very grateful for all of the love and support that these ladies have shown me through the years, and to Amy for taking the time to be interviewed and profiled for this edition of As Seen On.
-Amy
[interview below by Kayla Doyle + photos of Amy in her studio by Jesika Theos]
Amy Brnger wearing the Numa Studs in sterling silver at one of our favorite business meeting haunts, Lil’s in Kittery
Amy, please tell us about your history with art and painting.
Art has been in my daily life since childhood. I read a lot and spent quite a bit of time drawing (I loved paint by numbers!). I studied art at UNH and was not a remarkable talent. After graduating, the best thing I did for myself was to keep painting. It took me a long time, but I did actually learn to paint and developed a firm identity as an artist. Now I can’t imagine my life without it.
Where and how do you find inspiration?
Nature. As I mentioned earlier, I enjoy walking. Walking is one of those activities that allows you to enjoy seeing very small and insignificant things as well as grand vistas. I also derive a lot of satisfaction and comfort with home. It’s one of the reasons I paint interiors, but not as often as I’d like. I need to really feel like I understand a space before I can paint it with conviction.
Over the past two years, what has shifted for you, either personally or professionally?
I left my long time, part-time employment last month. This is going to be a big, positive change for me. Already I feel different. My work outside of art was good and important to me, but I juggled two careers ever since graduating from college. My mind feels clearer and I also feel like I can take a day off from all work now, without guilt!
What are some other important aspects of you and your life?
Home and family are important to me. They help create and support my artistic life. If I didn’t have my family, I’m not sure I would be making the same kind of paintings. Being outside is a necessity; I walk in almost any weather and, when I can’t, I can feel a real difference in my body and temperament.
How did you first come to meet Amy V? I believe your connection first sparked abroad?
Amy and I met when we were in Italy, in the town of Ascoli Piceno. Amy was a student in the art program at UNH and I was there with my husband, Craig Hood (one of Amy’s professors) and my daughter, Audrey. Amy babysat our daughter and taught her a missing thumb magic trick that I still cannot replicate.
And from there, how did your friendship grow or evolve?
Amy and I met up at a self-employment workshop geared toward artists. We reconnected quickly and started to meet regularly, along with some other artists, as a way to support each other as we became business owners.
Small Business Support Group :) Photo by painter Kim Ferriera of painter Amy Brnger, jeweler Glynis Dixon, and me!
How have you and Amy supported each other as friends, artists, and business-owners?
We have a nice connection and ease with one another that has developed over the past ten years or so. Amy is both fun and serious, always approachable. I appreciate having a long time friendship with her because we can ask each other questions, out of the blue, and always know we will get an answer. And we can also turn the conversation to fun things just as fast. We freely share professional information with one another. That is a huge relief to me.
What pieces of Amy’s can you be seen wearing? How do you typically style these?
My Cheval Hoops are probably my favorite, because I seem to wear them a lot! Until recently, I had a LOT of curly hair (I just chopped it off) and my earrings were always a little challenging to see. Now my earrings are very visible, so I’m curious if I will wear other styles. In terms of fashion, I am unremarkable. But I do like accessories! I wear her earrings with jeans and vests most often, but they always look nice when I dress up.
:)
Kayla and I thank you so much for reading our latest installment of As Seen On. Please be sure to check out amybrnger.com to learn more about our Amy and her artwork, and please consider joining us on Feb 9th for our Artist in Business workshop through the Winslow Art Center. Click here for more info
ASO readers, please enjoy 20% off Amy’s favorite AVE styles, the Cheval Hoops and the Numa Studs. Discount is automatically taken at checkout.
If you or someone you know wears AVE jewelry and is interested in being featured in our “Ode to the Wearers", please reach out to us. We’d love to learn more about you and what you wear.