US American artist Amy Ernst (b. 1953) descends from a family of artists spanning four generations: as the great-granddaughter of portrait painter Philip Ernst, granddaughter of surrealist artist Max Ernst, and daughter of abstract expressionist Jimmy Ernst, she grew up in an environment deeply influenced by art. After studying stage design at Emerson College and earning a master’s degree in arts administration, she began developing her characteristic collage art in the 1980s.
Her works, suspended between figuration and abstraction, dream and reality, combine printmaking and photographic techniques. Inspired by architecture, mysticism, and everyday symbols, Amy Ernst creates surreal compositions that have attracted international attention since her first solo exhibition in 1992. The artist lives and works in New York City and Florida.
1953: Amy Ernst is born in Rowayton, a coastal village in the city of Norwalk, Connecticut.
1966-1973: During the summer months, she works in Guild Hall at the John Drew Theater in East Hampton, New York, where she is particularly interested in lighting and scenic design.
1974-1978: Studies set design at Emerson College, Boston; works for Boston Summer Opera Theater, meets her future husband, opera singer Eric Donald Johnson.
1984: Receives M.A. degree in Arts Administration and Business at Indiana University Bloomington. Indiana.
1988: First group exhibition at Guild Hall Museum, Southampton, others followed in New York galleries.
1991-1994: Participation in the Robert Blackburn Printmaking workshop in New York. There and in further master workshops she refines her artistic techniques, a sophisticated combination of different printmaking and photographic methods.
1992: First solo exhibition titled “Metamorphosis” at Clayton & Liberatore Gallery, NY.
1996: Master Workshop with John Baldessari, Santa Fe Art Institute, New Mexico.
1999: Master Workshops: Solar Plate Etchings, Dan Weldon, New York.
2011: Master Workshops: Monotype, Lisa Mackie, New York.
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