Artist Amie Ziner Covers All The Bases

“Sketchbooks are a companion to me,” said artist Amie Ziner. ​“I always have a sketchbook with me.”

Light streamed through the windows of Ziner’s dining room, illuminating the artifacts, handcrafts, and artwork that enliven her arts-infused life.

Of special note were the stacks of small sketchbooks she has been filling for the better part of four decades — elements of which are now on display for a limited, one-week exhibition at 101 Threads, the gallery at 118 Court St.. The show opened on Sept. 19 and will move a few streets over to The Happiness Lab, at 756 Chapel St., at the end of the week.

Although the bound volumes contain sketches, many composed of typical, multiple-view studies, they also contain finely elaborated paintings, renderings, and multimedia musings, evidence of the skilled hand of someone not only making art, but living it.

Along with samples of her actual sketchbooks are two 3’ x 10’ murals with images culled and reproduced from those sketchbooks. They are dense montages that reveal only an aspect of Ziner’s creative output.

A visual scan of the murals reveals a deft and confident facility for rendering the things she sees, feels, and experiences. Figurative and primarily representational, Ziner’s imagery shows her connection to people and nature, subjects she often combines to great effect.

“I find Amie’s work to be deep, rich and vibrant, with a range that matches her character,” said 101 Threads owner Brian Monahan. A mini slide show extends the number of images on view, but still represents only a fraction of her overall body of work.

The exhibit also includes examples of Ziner illustrations. Two published books on display touch upon her capacity for whimsical humor with imagination-capturing appeal. The proverbial line between illustration and fine art is often blurred, if nonexistent.

“It’s all poetry” Ziner said.

Several stations around the gallery display Ziner’s forays into various mediums — stone, wood, and wire sculpture including 3D printed sculptural replicas created in various sizes of their originals. A small sign encourages viewers to hold and examine the reproductions.

At the opening, visitors were invited to make their own creative statements at a large drawing table. Those who took up this interactive opportunity seemed to delight in the stuffed boxes of available Crayola crayons and markers.

A collection of around a dozen Ziner oil paintings on display also hint at her versatility and breadth of skill. Dramatic light and color harmonies are part of her visual currency, supported by solid compositional awareness. In ​“Mike in Edgewood Park,” shards of dappled light draw us to a young child. Alone and engrossed in his personal musings, the warm and cool color interplay strikes a soothing balance creating a magical refuge.

“Botanica,” a symphony of plant forms and curving lines, basks in a warm, orange glow, inviting the viewer to explore dense layering punctuated with complementary colored blue florets.

An avid gardener and lover of nature, Ziner often used raw materials from nature to create baskets, weavings, and wood carvings. In addition to teaching several weekly classes in science at Woodruff Family WMCA in Milford, and occasional drawing sketch classes at 101 Threads called Sip and Sketch, Ziner has just landed a dream job as a part-time ranger at Ansonia Nature Center that will make use of her many talents in all areas of the center’s operations.

At The Grove

To broaden her understanding of presenting art, Ziner recently took on the role of curator with a current exhibition entitled People in Nature at the Grove Gallery, which will run for eight weeks though Nov. 6. In the exhibit, Ziner has curated the work of six international artists from three continents, including one of her own pieces, a large, painterly, pastel landscape drawing.

Ziner has curated before, but said she greatly benefited from a program taught by Grove Gallery’s curator, Art Interstice​‘s Elinor Slomba. The program, called ​“Open your Curatorial Eye,” is designed to train people from varying professional backgrounds in arts curation.

During her training, Ziner said she learned to develop a subjective sensibility about the artwork. This let her find commonalities among the images, bringing them together and helping viewers understand the artists’ intent, but also exploring aspects of the art that the artists themselves may never have considered.

The show’s title, People in Nature, refers to the intimate relationships of people to the places they work and live. ​“The show pays homage to their country’s landscapes, plants and animals, and to the human spirit, both as made evident, and implied” according to an exhibition statement. 

The exhibit includes traditional media and digital images of original works that provide a window on the art being created by the group of international artists. Acrylic and gouache paintings, digital prints of 3D objects, digitally created coloring books, and Sumi ink paintings on handmade paper come together. Ziner has embraced technology as an affordable way to share art, in effect democratizing access to the art for viewers and the artists’ abilities to share their work internationally. The artists include David Sandum from Norway, Harry Stooshinoff from Canada, Linda Cato from the United States, and Florence M’Bilampassi Virginie Loukoula ​“Ma Flo” (above) and M’Bilampassi Tonda Judith Armel, both from the Republic of Congo.

Mitchell Library Exhibit

Ziner’s embrace of technology is on full display with yet another show at the meeting room gallery of the Mitchell branch of the New Haven Free Public Library. The show features 15 digital prints by Ziner created on an iPad, and also features several works by iPad Procreate App specialist Raheem Nelson. Ziner’s love of nature, the landscape, portraiture, and cartooning are all featured in the exhibit. Watching her draw in real time using the iPad, often at special events, leaves no doubt that technology has become another tool in her formidable skill set. The show runs through Oct. 15.

Ziner said a quote by the musician John Cage has become her motto for many years: ​“my life is art.” She said she sees art not as a commodity, but as an integral part of everyday life.

“Like the people who made Stonehenge, or that carved the beautiful figurines of gods and goddesses, and created baskets, poetry and pottery; all these expressions of creativity were not divorced from a spiritual life… they were part of their spiritual life,” she said.

Ziner will be exhibiting at the Goffe Street Armory during the upcoming City Wide Open Studios. Check the website for details.