Reno artist draws inspiration from humanity’s caveman past

As a youngster growing up in the 1960s, Amelia Currier dreamed about what it would be like to be a Neanderthal in caveman days.

“My ultimate, secret fantasy was to be a cave woman. Just me, my leopard skin jumper, a campfire, and some critters to keep me company,” she said.

The artist said perhaps her long dormant fantasy has revealed itself in her recent work, “Glyphs and Houses,” which opened this week at the Carson City Community Center.

Keeping with the theme of looking back to humanity’s earliest history, Currier said her newest work seeks a continuum between herself and artists from the distant past.

She said she views the house as humankind’s first and most primordial symbol, the first image humans drew in kindergarten and the seat of desire for wholeness. These images represent her interest in our ability to shade our memories between reality and fantasy.

As inspiration, Currier researched Etruscan tomb carvings and Chinese, Japanese, and Hebrew characters that represent the door/home symbol or glyph. She sees these letters as visual forms and has altered them into her own personal vocabulary of glyphs and doorways.

Currier uses encaustic monotype, a method in which pigmented wax is used in stick-form to draw upon a heated metal plate. The wax melts instantly and may be further manipulated with brushes or tools. The molten image is transferred from plate to paper by absorption and gentle hand pressure.

Currier has been a painter and printmaker for 30 years. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Intaglio Printmaking at Wayne State University. She attended the Instituto Allende, Mexico, and the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts. She’s a member of the International Encaustic Artists, The Print Center, and The Encaustic Art Institute, and has exhibited in numerous national and international juried shows. She lives and creates her art in Reno.

The display can be seen through Feb. 24 in the Sierra Room of the Carson City Community Center, 851 E. William St.

The Sierra Room is open to the public from noon to 5 p.m. Fridays, and during the city’s official public meetings. For Sierra Room access, call 775-283-7421, or check meeting schedules at www.carson.org/government/meetings-and-events.

The Capital City Arts Initiative is an artist-centered organization committed to the encouragement and support of artists and the arts and culture of Carson City and the surrounding region. The Initiative is committed to community building for the area’s diverse adult and youth populations through art projects and exhibitions, live events, arts education programs, artist residencies, and its online projects.

CCAI is funded in part by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, City of Carson City, NV Energy Foundation, Robert Z. Hawkins Foundation, U.S. Bank Foundation, Nevada Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and John and Grace Nauman Foundation.

For more information about CCAI, go to www.arts-initiative.org. Information about Currier’s work is at www.ameliacurrier.com.