In Every Grain of Sand, the Universe

Artist Bio Amy Lynn Torres is a mixed media collage artist whose visual motif explores the liminality of identity and the experience of existing between worlds. Originally from Chicago, IL, she is now based in Northern California. Her artistic voice is inspired by her roots in the Puerto Rican diaspora. As a self-taught artist, Amy Lynn develops her technical skills through both in-person and online learning opportunities. Her art pieces have been exhibited at the Oak Park Art League in Illinois, Crocker Art Museum of Sacramento, Mills Arts and Cultural Center of Rancho Cordova, California Capitol Mall, and Rancho Cordova City Hall in California. Amy Lynn participated in the Collage in Practice residency at Kolaj Institute, where she expanded her understanding of collage as a medium and strengthened her connection to collage artists across the world. Beyond her personal art making, Amy Lynn facilitates local art and wellness workshops at organizations such as Women’s Wisdom Art, the Crocker Art Museum, and Ri-Nu Imagination. Generous grant awards from the Rancho Cordova City Council pave the way for her to offer accessible and creative opportunities to community members.  Amy Lynn’s designs, as well as her gatherings, are an invitation to lean into the power of intuition and unleash the transformative nature of self expression. Artist Statement I create because I must. Creative chispa, or spark, has been an undercurrent in my family of storytellers, dancers, and musicians.My memories are rooted in this collective energy, where artistic expression is a language of connection and survival. Throughout the years, I have explored various media from photography to drawing and painting. Currently, my work finds its home in mixed-media collages layered with acrylic paint and discarded fragments of paper. I see beauty and value in what is often overlooked. My process is intuitive. As I work, each color, image, or texture informs the next. I navigate without a predetermined outcome. It is in this total immersion that I transcend ego and harmonize my mind, body, and soul. Bold lines and grids embody this state of consciousness by moving the energy through the compositions on a vertical plane. I embrace raw edges, visible cuts, and imperfect alignments as reminders of the journey of self-construction. In my life, I feel the most where the seams meet each other. The experience of living as a Puerto Rican woman in the diaspora weaves its way into my central characters. Oftentimes female, they are focal points for exploring themes of womanhood and the experience of existing between multiple worlds. La chispa— an amber glow— illuminates many of my collages, reflecting the enduring ember of life that requires tending. Art making is a portal to ancestral wisdom and new ways of seeing. Each piece I create is an invitation to pause, to reflect, and to recognize ourselves as ever-evolving works of art.

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