We had the good fortune of connecting with Amy Floyd and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Amy, can you share the most important lesson you’ve learned over the course of your career?

The most important lesson my career has taught me is that I need to trust my instincts. I have learned that I am a great innovator and that I am willing to fail in order to learn how to approach something new. I do not need to do everything the ‘typical’ way. I find that using my creative way of thinking has allowed me the space to see challenges in a new light. I’m far from perfect, but when I have leaned on other people for ideas, it does not feel like I am being authentic to myself or my process. I was a former art teacher for children and adults on the spectrum. What an amazing gift to see the world through their eyes. My students taught me a lot about letting go and embracing what makes me different from everyone else. I used to be a horrible perfectionist, it was always difficult to navigate the world if I couldn’t control the outcome. Since being a teacher, I have enjoyed a calmer side of myself and have started embracing the messy, not so perfect corners of the world.

I have learned a lot about input from other people and their perceptions of how art, my art, should be perceived. I have learned to step back and enjoy not only the process, but the outcome of each piece. I also know that feeling of failure is a part of being an artist. I don’t really call it failure, as we all know, they are little steps to innovation and learning. Trusting my vision and experimenting with all kinds of art media is what keeps me interested in stepping into the studio each day.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

My story is basically about the history of me; always trying to re-capture that flying feeling as a child. Free without constraints, able to soar over the world without a care in the world. My art is always capturing a fly over of a landscape that has history bound inside of it. I was always intrigued with aerial photos and photography. I bought a book in college that changed how I painted. It was book of black and white aerial photos by William Garnett. The photos span from the 50’s and up to the 80’s I believe. I love the patterns of animals meeting at a watering hole or the flight of birds over a mountain range but from the perspective of above looking down. Initially when I started working on my aerial landscapes, I thought I would burn out and stop doing them completely, However, it only fueled more ideas and concepts to me and allowed me to explore what stories are imbedded inside of a landscape. My love of far away places as well as searching each painting for depth, have challenged me to capture abstract concepts as landscapes as well. I have “flown” to Heaven and have also explored pain and sadness as landscapes. Most of my paintings are “far away” in the sense, because the viewer will probably not really know the origin of the painting. A piece is successful to me if it allows others to feel like they can have that same free feeling of flying.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?

My shoutouts are simple. My friends and family first. My mom gave me a passion for art, my dad gave me a passion for nature. Everyone else just let me have my passions and kept encouraging me to keep working. My children were my tiny cheerleaders when they were little and have become a part of my audience. I started out slow and sold a few pieces from a coffee shop called The Grove Coffee in Gilbert. That spurred me to crawl out of my shell and make a few more pieces. After a little more confidence I reached out to Art One Gallery in Scottsdale. Art One has supported me through the years by allowing me, and my students from where I taught, to display art there.

Having the support and encouragement of my friends have also allowed me to keep going. I don’t think I would have done some of the most intense commissions if I didn’t have my friends and family telling me to just go for it. I was able to do some pieces for Carlisle in Scottsdale and I have done several pieces for various clients around the valley.

Website: Www.Amyfloydstudio.com

Instagram: @amyfloydstudio

Facebook: Amy Floyd Studio

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