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Enter my shop here:
http://amylburns.etsy.com/

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BOOKBINDING:

I have always been a chronicler of my experience. I have stories I wrote as a child scribbled on little memo pads and poems printed in little newsletters. My heart has always been pulled by words on a page, so it seems natural that some day I would create the vessels which cradle ideas and words.

The first time I remember making a book was in third grade. It was an accordion book with a red cover and the letter A on the cover. I thought it was the coolest thing and loved it. I never could remember how I made it, but it stuck in my mind as something I enjoyed and got great pleasure from creating.

The next project was a pamphlet book during college. My assignment was to make a zine to accompany a set of short documentaries for a Women's Studies class. This was my first self-publishing experience, as well, and only increased my interest in book arts.

It wasn't until I had moved back and forth across the country a few times, that I finally took my first actual book binding class. This is where I learned more complex book structures and bindings, like Coptic stitch. Immediately I was hooked!

For me book binding pulls together visual and design elements of art with crafting a functional object. The most special part of what I create is when one of my journals or notebooks become a space for someone to delve more deeply into their own inner world and the world around them. Or when one of my guestbooks becomes a record of a celebration for friends and family that the celebrant/s can return to time and time again.

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LIFE HISTORY:

I grew up in Washington state (as an only child, though I now have several much younger siblings) and graduated high school while living in a transitional housing program for homeless youth. Despite the barriers, i was the first member of my family to go to college and graduated with two bachelors degrees from Washington State University.

After college, I worked in teen shelters in the Seattle area until moving to Boston in 2000, where I spent 4 years growing my business skills. In 2004, Lupus kicked my butt and I lost my job. I had meant to start my own business anyway, and had just started dabbling in painting and ceramics, so at the time it seemed fortuitous. Of course, I didn't know it was Lupus or that my health would never really fully recover. As I experimented with art for self-expression I tried out many mediums (acrylic, oils, watercolor, clay, fabric, paper) and loved them each for their own unique qualities.

My sweetie and I adventured out to California for two years in July 2006. There was no gold for us in "them thar hills," so we meandered back to the east coast to live in New York City in August 2008. In October 2010, we relocated to New England married on Winter Solstice in 2010.

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ILLNESS:

I was diagnosed with Lupus in 2009. Looking back, it's obvious to me that I've been grappling with autoimmune disease for most of my life. It has made it nearly impossible to hold a regular job (there is always something about the work environment or work hours that encourage a flare). And Lupus has greatly impacted my ability to make art - for example, I can no longer create pottery due to the intensity of the chemicals and temperature in a ceramics studio. I want to be productive and want to have a life in my community, and the best way I have found to do that is to create art.

In 2011 I also had surgery to remove a rare breast tumor, from which I am recovering nicely. Sure, it's been a rough life... but what life isn't? My life is sweeter because of the salty bits. I currently divide my time between resting, baking and creating art.

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Handmade by Amy L Burns
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