Amy Dryer's work is about the brush stroke. Her paintings are often layered with the texture and color of oil paint.
Dryer's interests lie in the primitive act of painting – the human process of creating marks on a canvas.
Amy situates her work within the artistic and theoretical spectrums of German expressionism and feminism.
Through bold paint application and a vibrant palette, Amy expresses the inner lives of her everyday subjects, including women.
Amy delves into themes of permanency and impermanency within her subjects.
Whether painting portraits, landscapes or women, her paintings capture private, unseen moments that pass and are gone.
Amy compares her work to music: gestural, expressionistic brush strokes combine ideas of movement, stillness, permanency and impermanency.
Personal everyday moments – faces, landscapes and women – are given significance in both space and time.



Amy has painted full time since 2002. Her passionate paintings have won recognition throughout Canada.
Amy exhibits with Trinity Galleries, Saint John, NB; Canvas Gallery, Toronto, ON; Willow Studio, Saskatoon, SK;
Galerie Avenue, Old Montreal; and AXIS Gallery, Calgary AB.
Amy was chosen as the 2009 recipient of Heritage Property Corporation Purchase Award.
In 2008 Amy was pleased to be selected for the cover of Avenue Magazine profiling 'Calgary's Best.’
She recently completed an artist residency at Emma Lake, Saskatchewan, led by Toronto-based artist Kim Dorland.
She considered working among her peers at such a historical residency an honour.


Amy attended the Alberta College of Art and Design, the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland,
and the Fine Art program at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick.
Her work shows in private and public collections in Canada and the US.
Amy is based in Calgary AB.