The fabulous Amy Oh has been many amazing things – to name just a few:
- a middle school art teacher
- a freelance illustrator
- a decorator
- a “blogging RV hobo” (her words)
And this summer she’ll be a guest instructor at The Funky Little Chair!!! How lucky are we??? Let me tell you more. . .
How/where did we first meet?
Amy came in as a student when I was teaching at Blue Sky Galleries in Minneapolis. She took several weekend classes and a couple technique classes. Now she’s a lively part of my Tuesday Advanced group, working on client, personal and consignment projects.
I was beyond delighted to learn in passing that Amy was once part of a start-up that created hand-painted textiles for designers and even Kravet Fabrics. My goodness!!!!! We are NOT talking about spray painting furniture, here, folks. There are practical considerations for making hand painted textile that WORK.
She brought me one of her cow pillows to check out when I asked about maybe doing a summer class. It’s seriously one of my favorite things in the whole world. Everyone should have a hand painted pillow. The world would be a happier place.
Why I’m psyched
Amy adds great energy to every group I’ve ever taught – she hollers and sings, and drags in crazy fabrics, in all kinds of crazy combinations. If there was a patron saint for living with passion and creativity, and unbridled enthusiasm for trying new things, IT WOULD BE AMY.
And you know me.
I believe in singing out loud, all the time. And making mistakes, because how else are you gonna learn????? I believe in working really hard to be good at stuff, but I also believe we gotta start somewhere, and that many things can be enjoyed whether we’re good at it or not. Just because you think you’re a crumby artist doesn’t mean you should avoid the joy of making art. Are you trying to go pro? No? Then come paint a darn pillow.
What she’ll be teaching in June:
Hand-painting fabrics for home dec! The technical aspects, the artistic aspects. Equal parts creativity and practicality. She’ll bring her crazy brain to help you start thinking of what to paint. And she’ll bring her expertise to help you make sure it all ends well. Dress for mess, we’ll have the fabric and brushes and goodies.
Who should sign up?
The beauty of this class is that anyone can really enjoy it – there’s no prerequisite, and you can do whatever you want with your finished fabric! If you want to restore a Chesterfield, you better get on board for 1,000 hours of intense work and education. But HEY! You know what might be MORE fun???? Making a super fabulous, super fun, super custom piece of hand-painted fabric and then doing something simple with it. Trust me, I put A LOT of projects up on social media – the most popular ones are never complicated: They’re usually uber simple in an exceptionally cool fabric. So whether you’re a pro looking for creative options, or a brand new hobbyist, this class has something you can build on.
WHY should you sign up??
Because Amy is SO MUCH FUN. It’s hands on, it’s messy, it’s going to be a blast. There is no reason in the world to be intimidated, even if you’ve never painted before, or you aren’t sure what you want to make, or you consider yourself artistically inept. Come let Amy cheer you on. Have lunch with a bunch of hip kids. We’ll have a great time together. I’m sure of it 🙂
Where can you sign up?
GOSH, I thought you’d never ask – HERE YA GO!
See you in St. Paul!
