Feature Artist - AMY PIRKLE

AMY PIRKLE

is a book artist and letterpress printer from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. 

Amy received her M.F.A. in Book Arts from the University of Alabama in 2007.  During her time in graduate school, she established Perkolator Press.  As a printer and book artist, her primary medium is letterpress and reduction relief, but she often employs other printmaking techniques as well.  Although her work stems from long-standing craft tradition of fine press and fine binding, she also enjoys integrating newer forms of technology into her books.  Familial relationships and memory are the major inspirations for her work.

A REAL FIGHTING MAN (2012)
is Amy's submission work for Personal Histories.

I printed A REAL FIGHTING MAN after spending a few days with my grandfather in south Georgia and looking through some snapshots of him serving in Korea in the early 1950's.  The photos instantly inspired me, mostly because of the descriptions my grandfather had written on the backs of the photos, including the phrase "A real fighting man".  The cover images are reduction linocuts based on two of these snapshots, while the spine image and flags are archival inkjet prints.  I created photopolymer plates of his cursive handwriting from the photos, and letterpress printed them along with a narrative he wrote about his time in Korea 50 years later.  The book attempts to convey my grandfather's struggle to regain a sense of normalcy after facing the horrors of war.

Kiyoko

Amy has enjoyed an active exhibition record and her work resides in Permanent Special Collections in almost 50 universities across the United States including the Art Institute of Chicago, Brown, RISD, Vanderbilt and Yale.  Amy currently teaches book arts, drawing, and design at The University of Alabama for the Department of Art, University Honors, and New College.

When You Are Old

The River

ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHT OF THE ARTIST - AMY PIRKLE