The juxtaposition of the images I choose for my hand-cut paper collages are often a metaphor for motherhood specifically and womanhood in general. They represent the many layers of conversation I have had with my children from the time they first noticed the differences between our bodies, through puberty, until now when they face new and growing challenges of becoming men in a world where so much of their information is gathered from social media.
I continue to have conversations with them when they’re open to listening and, in between, I make collages in order to say all that I am thinking. I am painstakingly creating and accumulating images of motherhood and of what it means to be female in today’s society. It is a strange diary of sorts, an incubator for my thoughts and for my exponentially increasing hope that I will be heard, that my voice will make a difference to my sons or to someone who views my work.
BIO
Amy Tingle has been a maker since she can remember. Her first creative project most likely involved constructing something out of acorns, flower petals, and moss. She is a human, mother, artist, and a lover of words.
In 2010, sensing a need in her community to make creative expression more accessible, Amy founded BraveGirlsArt, which has since been folded into The Creativity Caravan, a mobile creativity business she co-founded in 2013 with her partner, Maya Stein. Their programs place a heavy emphasis on self-empowerment, sharing ideas, and finding common ground through creative expression.
Her collage work has been shown in galleries on both coasts of the United States and she is the author of a book called Strange Diary, or How to Make a Collage. She lives in Nutley, New Jersey with her wife, her two sons, and a dog named Lola.