Art2Muse

After studying under scholarship for Excellence in Art at Carey Grammar School, Ami continued her education at Monash University, completing a Bachelor of Fine Art (majoring in Painting) in 2005. She thoroughly enjoyed her drawing mentorship with Dobell Prize winner and landscape artist Mary Tonkin between 2002 and 2004. During her education at Monash, Ami regularly visited the Northern Territory and volunteered her time to an Aboriginal art community, whilst exploring her own work. Currently completing a Masters in Entrepreneurship and Innovation (majoring in Creative Thinking) where she is exploring the psychological techniques used by artists, and how these can be applied to other areas or industries, at age 26, Ami purchased a 75 acre farm in Gippsland, where her love for the land and its creatures inspired her latest work.

‘I started observing the cows when we bought our farm in Gippsland last year. They were such curious creatures and I found that they were a beautiful, tangible link to how I felt around the farm. It made me feel so grateful for our move to the country when I was in their presence, to be given an opportunity to be trusted by these great gentle beasts enough to join their pack.

They were like a very best friend; each morning I would look forward to seeing my buddies, who made me feel calm and interesting. I would sit in the middle of their calm crowd, and they would gather around me inquisitively, until I was sure they would trample me. But they would just stand around, like a crowd at a gallery, watching me paint, sniffing the canvas, critiquing silently.

It was then I noticed parallels with human crowds - some of them would act like the boisterously drunken art goer - knocking my canvas over when I turned my back, impolitely rubbing themselves on my paint tins, or standing in the back of the crowd, displaying the most tranquil but nervous stare, like they wanted to ask me questions but their painful shyness overtook...
I was invited into their wonderful world of vulnerability.

Their masses no longer intimidated me, their flighty movements no longer made me anxious. Every day I found myself wondering what they would think of my next paintings. They became my muse, my favourite critics. I enjoyed their company, as a group, more than any human crowd I have ever experienced.

Even though they seemed somewhat sad sometimes, the air around them always appeared light, wispy, sure - they are by far the most captivating things I have ever observed.’

-Ami Summers, 2007.

Born in Melbourne, December 1980.

Education

2007 - Masters of Entrepreneurship Innovation – Creative Thinking
Swinburne University of Technology

2000 - Bachelor of Fine Art – Painting
Monash University

Training

2001 - Mary Tonkin, Dobell Drawing Prize winner 2000

1999 - Leonard Long, acclaimed landscape artist

Sponsorship

2006 - Stumpy Gully Vineyard – ‘The Canopy Drawings’ project

Exhibitions

2008 - Art2Muse at the Tom Dunne Gallery, Darlinghurst, Sydney

2007 - Art Sydney 07, Moore Park, NSW - Represented by Brunswick Street Gallery

2007 - Brunswick Street Gallery, Fitzroy, Vic - ‘Small Works Show’

2006 - MIR Gallery, CBD Vic - ‘Works on paper – Conversations with Sophie Calle’

2006 - McCulloch Gallery, CBD Vic - ‘The Canopy Drawings’

2006 - Contemporary Art Society - ‘The Collectors Exhibition’

2004 - The Artists Gallery, Fitzroy Vic - ‘Good Wood’

2004 - Monash Project Space, Caulfield Vic - ‘Bent Straight’

2003 - Motorworks Gallery, St Kilda Vic - ‘The Ryder-Cheshire Foundation’

2003 - Gardner Contemporary Art, Hawthorn Vic - ‘Art and Pain’

2003 - Eckersley’s Open Space, CBD Vic - ‘Enter the Disposable Hierarchy of Now’

Publications and Appearances

2006 - Contemporary Art Society of Victoria – ‘Collectors Exhibition Publication’

2004 - Appearance on Sunday program, Channel 9 - Linden Postcard Show 2004

2003 - Look Magazine, Issue 2 (2003) ‘Look now – Ami Summers’

Commissions considered

Contact Katrina Hampton +61-424809849 / +61-2-9326 6728