I have long admired the collages of artist Amy Grantham, who you will find on instagram under the happy and aptly choosen name woodstockings. Dappled between her collages are unique, era specific vintage photos, that tie ever so well with her art and confirm your thoughts that she is a flowerchild. Over and over I am delighted by Amy’s sense of composition, within which there is often a sense of humor and a comforting and appealing contradiction.
The collages will draw you into a beautiful moment, only to discover on closer inspection that what you are seeing is really not possible. Inspired by what we wish could be real, the work perches close to that edge of almost… and you imagine, oh, but it could be! On first glance you will think, this is wonderful, it should be true. You want to believe it, because you want to experience it, but then you realize it is just pieces of carefully selected bits of this and that, coming together in a skillful way to present an overall whole, that stands in for something like a living moment that would be rather nice, if it were true. If these people in these pictures were in fact living this experience, that would be magic… but no, they are not, but still we sense it, we feel the goodness, an ambience, a desire, a longing is created.
Amy Grantham is an artist currently living New York City. Removed geographically from the childhood of growing up in the woods, but has with what she describes as a deep connection with nature. “I believe in the lessons that nature has to teach us, if only we listen and learn. I have always found solace in nature, and it is a constant source of inspiration as it is forever changing and adapting to new circumstances.”
I approached Amy after noting that water appeared in her collages repeatedly. “I love to stare out over a body of water and marvel at it’s ability to “go with the flow”, as they say! I try to apply the teachings of water to my life as best as I can. Remembering that change is a constant, and that the best way to navigate through it all is to simply flow, or sometimes, to simply be.”
Amy was very insightful when she shared with me that one of the things that she likes the most about water is that we ALL need it. “There is not one of us who can live without it and so I believe we must do our best to conserve this life-giving resource before it is too late.” I loved this reminder, this truth, that water is the one of the things that we all need… it reminds us that we are all part of the same body, we all need earth’s water, to drink it, and to communicate this that this is life.
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