Amy Kirchner

“My work is purely an act of painting, which does not represent me or even an idea — it owns itself.” --Amy Kirchner

Working in acrylic and graphite, Amy Kirchner (b. 1963) creates large-scale works on canvas, exploring these questions through a separate and independent space. Unanchored from the familiar through reduction, flatness, shape, and color, the work becomes solely unto itself.

Kirchner studied art and advertising at the University of Nebraska. Since graduation in 1985, she has enjoyed a long and successful career in graphic design. She moved to Indiana in 1993 where she planted her roots personally and professionally. From 1985 to the present Amy has freelanced and served as an art director for several important companies, working for a host of corporate behemoths. As such, her work can be found in iconic images for M & M Mars, Citibank, Hyatt Hotels, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indiana University McKinney School of Law, the IU Alumni Association, Independent Colleges of Indiana, Women’s Fund of Central Indiana, and Indiana University Foundation, among many others, at least a dozen of which are Indiana-based businesses.

Eighteen years ago, Kirchner took a studio in the Stutz Building – a building known as an incubation spot for Indiana artists. There, she began to focus on painting. Kirchner paints in silence and sunlight. She paints mood. She paints the space between breaths. In a fast-paced environment she seeks to slow time, offering the viewer a respite.

In 2016, she signed a world-wide exclusivity contract to be represented by Long-Sharp Gallery (Indianapolis). Since that time, her works have been exhibited at art fairs in New York (NY), Palm Beach (FL), Chicago (IL), and Palm Springs (CA) as well as solo and group exhibitions with Long-Sharp Gallery in Indianapolis and New York. Since 2016, Kirchner’s paintings have been placed in collections across the United Kingdom and the United States, including a solo exhibition at the Art Museum of Greater Lafayette in 2023.

Amy lives in the Butler Tarkington area of Indianapolis with her husband John (also an artist) and their dogs Lewis and Clover. Their daughter, Mary Nell, was born, raised, and educated in Indiana.

To view a short video about the artist, click here.