AMY HEIN
Biography
Amy Hein (she/her) is an artist based in Calgary Alberta who specializes in botanical illustration, handmade pottery, and watercolour painting all inspired by nature. Amy received her BFA in 2018 from the Alberta University of the Arts, and graduated from the Visual and Creative Arts Program at Sheridan College in 2014. Her latest achievement sent her to Charlottetown P.E.I for the Canadian Wildlife Federation (CWF) Conservation Awards where she received the 2022 Robert Bateman Award, given to an artist bringing awareness to wildlife conservation through artistic expression. She continues to support conservation efforts by creating a conservation mug series each spring, drawing focus to small creatures and a wildlife charity.
Amy has been teaching art for over 10 years, offering private tutoring services in drawing, painting, and ceramics; as well as in schools and art studios. She became a National Geographic Certified Educator in 2019 while teaching at The Wilder Institute Calgary Zoo. She currently practices pottery out of Mud Urban Potters, a ceramics studio in Calgary, Alberta where she also teaches Friday Night Throw Downs.
Amy is also an urban gardening enthusiast and uses her garden as inspiration for her floral paintings. She has a backyard city garden that is certified as a “wildlife-friendly habitat” through CWF.
Artist Statement
Plants are in constant motion, changing with the seasons, growing, decaying, and providing life. Gardening has become an important aspect of my art practice, and what once started as a hobby in my childhood, has developed into a sustainable lifestyle of planting, preserving, drawing, and sculpting from mud. Creating artwork inspired by plants, pollinators, and the landscape.
As an artist with sustainable goals, the process of making becomes an important part of the finished artwork. All aspects of the making process are thought through and equally as important, from resources purchased to reusing materials and reclaiming the clay.
In my current work I am exploring ways to speak about the beauty of the Earth through plants. Since 2021 I have been focusing my practice in wheel thrown, handmade pottery and botanical illustration. Combining my love of plants and pollinators with functionality. The emphasis of nature and place reoccurs through much of my work, which reflects on memories of wild spaces, use of natural resources, and creating in a more sustainable way.
