Artist Lecture - Amy Sackstede

Amy Sacksteder's lecture was full of interesting information on her previous artwork and how she became involved with the Sheppard Gallery. She was chosen to be a visiting artist based on her proposal of how she wanted to use the Sheppard Gallery as a space. Sacksteder is a mixed media artist. She makes sculptures and collages and also does some photography. 

She explained how she likes to collect things from nature, such as flowers, and incorporate them into her work. Her work is full of vibrant colors contrasted with natural objects and colors, like bright orange cones with salt representing snow. Her work is a combination of eye catching, but also subtle beauty.

For the Sheppard Gallery, she was inspired by Reno's landscapes. Landscapes are a recurring theme in her previous work. Sacksteder’s work represents a meeting place of urban landscape and natural, organic landscapes and objects. It was interesting to hear her process of setting up the space for her show. When she explained it, it sounded overwhelming due to the time constraints she had and some problems she ran into. It was a great look into problem solving and art. She had to figure out how to prop the salt up into mounds, she needed a lot of help to cover a wall in silver leafing, she wanted to use ladders to make train tracks, but ultimately chose silver tape.

Overall Sacksteder's lecture was a wonderful insight into her work. She gave a great background into what inspires her and what goes into setting up a gallery show.

Questions

1. Sacksteder mentioned she had never been to Reno before. What is her impression of Reno now, having explored and having this experience how will it influence her future artwork?
2. Hearing the problems she ran into while setting up the gallery – how often do problems like that happen? How does she cope in fixing problems on the fly?