Amy Puccio

May 3 -June 1, 2013

Amy Puccio's eco-friendly, puzzle-like, mosaics are created from unused and discarded picture frame moulding. Puccio, a recent inductee into the National Association of Women Artists in NYC, exhibits her work throughout NJ and NY. In every sculpture, many hundreds to over a thousand wood pieces, are individually cut and meticulously placed, in an exploration of scale-bending, depth, texture, and negative space. Each project presents a unique building challenge; a ‘why-not’ experiment. Art critic Ralph J. Bellantoni recently wrote, “Puccio applies an eclectic arsenal of topical knowledge to the making of her distinctive wooden wall sculptures. A former research chemist, she melds her scientific insights with carpentry skills and ecological sensitivity, creating mosaics that shift, ooze, flicker and soar.”

Driven to create art that falls outside people’s expectations, Puccio doesn’t like to limit herself. Her ‘Spilling Square,’ series explores the concept of implied motion. In other works, homage is paid to popular culture and ordinary objects in a not-so-ordinary way, including “Air Guitar,” a 48 inch "Feminist Clothespin", and her bike chain series, featuring a 3-D bicycle chain built with super-sized links that stretches over 5 feet tall.

“I was a stay-at-home mom, working part-time as a picture framer. Eight hours of frame-building leaves you with a garbage can full of unusable scraps. The original concept behind my artwork was born out of my unwillingness to accept these wood scraps as useless trash. On a whim, I stayed after work one night, cutting all types of beautiful moulding into small pieces. I went home with about twenty pounds of pieces and started gluing them together. “I love the irony that this wood was intended only to support and showcase the art of others, and now, it is the art...truly an amalgam from a framer-turned-artist.”