Interstice · Amelia Key

Opening Reception Friday, March 6, 6–9 PM
On view Saturdays, 1–5 PM
March 6–April 11

Inspired by the plethora of plastic objects available at a whim, I purchase, collect, and find materials wherever I go. Through this process of collecting, I imbue typically disposable objects with a sense of preciousness. These items are chosen for their bright colors, plasticity, shape, and texture, which I then alter and re-purpose to create new forms. Familiar objects become three-dimensional methods of mark-making in space. Through color exploration and repetition, these objects transcend their purpose, ultimately turning the mundane into the magical.

Foundational threads in my work include empathy, vulnerability, and fragility – traits that find common ground between contemporary materials and humanity. Through tending to these fragile and vulnerable objects, my empathy for them grows. By lifting up objects that are frequently unnoticed or underestimated, I personify plastics and use them as vehicles for my own desires. These objects transcend function and class, pushing their limitations to fulfill their potential. Their compositions demonstrate a visual vocabulary of transitional spaces: various combinations of order or disorder, opening a dialogue about embracing unpredictability and  challenges. Through site-responsive installation, these objects find a temporary place of belonging, and I explore a balanced approach to the impermanence that characterizes contemporary life.

Amelia Key is an interdisciplinary artist whose work transforms mundane materials into sculptural mark-making devices. Through processes of collecting and recontextualizing, she imbues disposable objects with a sense of preciousness and explores themes of empathy, fragility, and impermanence. Her site-responsive installations create moments of visual tension and joy, inviting viewers to reconsider the overlooked materials that shape contemporary life. Originally from Dothan, Alabama, Amelia holds an MFA from the University of Oklahoma and a BA from Belhaven University. She has exhibited nationally at venues including the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts and Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, and has completed residencies at The Factory on Willow, ArtWorks Cincinnati and the Aquarium Gallery in New Orleans. Amelia currently lives and teaches in Jackson, Mississippi, where she was awarded a 2025 Visual Arts Fellowship from the Mississippi Arts Commission.

Website: ameliakey.com