October Featured Artist | Amy Brakeman Livezey

“My work is very much about process, where paint, paper, and intuition gather for a back-and-forth conversation of composition and color.  Though my paintings typically do not originate with figures, my interest in historic photography weaves its way into my work so that figures from the past eventually find contemporary places to inhabit. Here, they invite viewers into fresh musings about contemporary art and personal and regional histories.“

-Amy Brakeman Livezey

Amy Brakeman Livezey has bachelor’s degrees from the University of Iowa and Syracuse University, as well as an MFA in cinema from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. She settled in Montana in 1993, beginning as a filmmaker before turning to painting. Livezey is known for her mixed media paintings of subjects from the past inhabiting contemporary abstract fields. The artist’s work is fueled by the Rocky Mountains, a fascination with old photographs, and a study of the roles of women in the American West through history. She uses acrylic paint, subtraction tools, bits of ephemera, and photo transfer techniques to bridge the gap between past and present. The artist has been published in High Desert Journal (2019) and Western Art Collector (2023). Her work has been exhibited in museum shows including Brinton Museum in Big Horn, WY; Hockaday Museum of Art in Kalispell, MT; and Holter Museum of Art in Helena, MT. Amy Brakeman Livezey currently lives and works in Helena, Montana.