Stories Unfold

Amelia Kraemer

July 2018

After a life-changing car accident, Amelia Kraemer of Owen Sound turned to art as therapy. She began by exploring colour in a series of bold acrylic/encaustic abstract paintings. Her energetic imagination then led her to explore the practice of visual storytelling. Collage and mixed media provide the means to develop narratives by the judicious selection and placement of historical, textual, notational, cartographic and graphic design elements. Kraemer hints at the personalities and life events of individuals in vintage photographs by juxtaposing ephemera of all kinds. She then imparts a nostalgic tone by overlaying a soft finish of encaustic wax.

Clippings from old books and magazines are both sources of inspiration and opportunities to layer meaning: old posters and photographs, faded sheet music, time-worn labels, logos, vintage typefaces, road maps, waybills, office stationery, postcards, and more. Snippets of found text that speak to a particular piece are inserted and become the title of the artwork. For Kraemer, the quotes serve as wellness mantras, encouragements, and reassurances. One of them, Out of Limitations Comes Creativity, can be viewed as the motto that guides Amelia Kraemer as she views the limitations caused by her accident not as a defeat, but as a source of passionate creativity.

Amelia holds an Honours BA in Near Eastern Archaeology and a General BA in Canadian History from Wilfrid Laurier University. She continued her studies at Fleming College receiving a Post-Graduate Certificate in Museum Management & Curatorship. Out of school she started as Assistant Archivist at Grey Roots Museum & Archives.
http://www.ameliakraemer.com/