About Amy Brooks

Amy Brooks is a glass and metal artist who works from her studio, Paradise Custom Glass, in Metuchen. She constructs custom stained-glass windows for residential & business customers, as well as sculptures that feature copper, steel, and glass. Her artwork can be found in public and private collections across the United States.

 

Artist Statement

I am a glass and metal artist who celebrates the interplay between the two materials; smooth, colorful glass meets rough, textural steel. Usually I feel inspired to create things of beauty with my artwork. But for the past three and a half years and even more lately, I am the opposite of inspired. I am horrified by the current administration’s response to the Coronavirus pandemic, police brutality, and racial inequality. This piece is a departure from my usual style but felt important for me to create.

I wanted to use Trump’s own words and images to depict the tragedy of our nation being blown apart. I chose tweets and quotes from his enormous trove of inflammatory words and printed them on glass ribbons, representing the stripes of a flag. Interspersed, and also printed on glass, is his image. The background to this is a steel bomb; it’s not subtle but neither is he. I titled this piece, “Trump is the Bomb” as a play on the slang, which he probably would take as a compliment.

Exhibitions 

  • “holding space…,” Emerge Gallery, Saugerties, NY, 2019
  • “Climate Change,” Transformations Gallery, Metuchen, NJ, 2018
  • “Light,” Gallery U, Westfield, NJ, 2017
  • “Hope for the Holidays,” Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ, 2017
  • “Beautiful & Powerful,” Nails in the Wall, Metuchen, NJ, 2017
  • “SWART: Social Work Works,” Gallery U, Westfield, NJ, 2016
  • “Food for Thought,” Lotus Studios, Highland Park, NJ, 2015
  • “Please Touch Sculpture Exhibition,” Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ, 2015
  • “Inspirational Women in History,” Transformations Gallery, Metuchen, NJ, 2015
  • “Inspirations” Annual Art Show, Raritan Bay Medical Center, Perth Amboy, NJ, 2015

Achievements

  • Paradise Custom Glass, Metuchen, NJ 08840. Owner, artist, teacher (2004-Present).
  • Transformations Gallery at the Old Franklin Schoolhouse, Co-chair (2012-Present).
  • Metuchen Arts Council, Vice Chair (2013-2014).
  • Metuchen’s Gallery @ the Rotunda, Director (2011-2012).
  • Annex Gallery @ the Rotunda, Founding Director (2011-2012).

Artist Interview