Amy Ahlstrom is a modern quilter.
Amy Ahlstrom creates conceptual pop art quilts from cotton and silk. She began hand-sewing at five, machine sewing at ten, and sewed her own clothes in her teenage years. After graduating with a BFA in Fiber Arts from Northern Illinois University, she continued her studies, earning a Master of Fine Arts in Fiber from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Ahlstrom has quilts in the permanent collections of Google, Capital One and the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, and has exhibited at the DeYoung Museum, Modern Eden, Sylvia White Gallery, Pro Arts, Root Division and the StARTup Art Fair. Her pop-art style is influenced by her experience with silkscreening and her background as a graphic designer and comic book illustrator. Ahlstrom has been nominated for the Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art (SECA) Award from the San Francisco Museum of Contemporary Art and for the Fleishhacker Foundation 2017-2019 Eureka Fellowship. In 2016, she was the inaugural artist for the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles Artist In Residency (AIR) program, and in 2020 her work was selected for exhibition in the first DeYoung Open. Ahlstrom is a former co-chair for the ArtSpan Open Studios Committee and is a current member of the Exhibitions Committee for the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles.
CV
Education
Master of Arts in Fiber, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL.
Bachelor of Arts in Fiber, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL.
Selected Exhibitions
Left Coast Annual Juried Exhibition 2021
Curated by Christine Koppes, Curator and Director of Public Programs,
Institute of Contemporary Art San José
Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA. April 9–May 16, 2021
The DeYoung Open Exhibition
DeYoung Museum, San Francisco, CA.
October 10, 2020-January 3, 2021
Sanchez Art Center Annual 50/50 Show, Curated by Patricia Sweetow
Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA.
September 18-October 11, 2020
New Growth
Modern Eden Gallery
San Francisco, CA.
March 7–April 2, 2020
Resolution
Palette Gallery
San Francisco, CA.
December 20, 2019–February 28, 2020
Microcosm
Modern Eden Gallery
San Francisco, CA.
October 12–November 1, 2019
F213: Juried group exhibit by the Northern California Women’s Caucus For Art
Arc Studios and Gallery
San Francisco, CA. April 13-May 11, 2019
Interplay: Craft, Art and Design
South Bay Contemporary
Los Angeles, CA. November 10-December 22, 2018
Left Coast Annual Juried Exhibition 2018
Curated by Claudia Schmuckli, The Fine Arts Museums Contemporary Curator
Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA. April 13–May 20, 2018
Loved To Death
Modern Eden Gallery
San Francisco, CA. October 6–28, 2017
Flower Child
Modern Eden Gallery
San Francisco, CA. August 12–September 2, 2017
Decade: Ten Years of Urban Quilts
Solo exhibit as Artist in Residence
San Jose Quilt Museum, October 7-November 19, 2016
On The Tilt
Wonderland SF, San Francisco, CA.
November 20, 2015
ArtSpan’s Selections 2015
SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA. January 23-25 2015
6th Annual Summer Juried Show Part II
Sylvia White Gallery, Ventura, CA September 21-October 19 2013.
Character Profile
Root Division, San Francisco, CA. July 10-July 27 2013.
Dis/Order: Pro Arts Juried Annual 2013
Selections by Naomi Beckwith, Curator at MCA Chicago, IL.
Pro Arts Gallery, Oakland, CA. December 7, 2012-January 11 2013.
Selected Permanent Collections
Capital One National Art Collection at the San Francisco Digital Lab
101 Post St, 2nd floor, San Francisco, CA 94108
Google San Francisco
345 Spear St, San Francisco, CA. 94105
San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles
520 S. 1st Street, San Jose, CA. 95113
Selected Awards and Nominations
Fleishhacker Foundation Nominee, 2017-2019 Eureka Fellowship
Juror’s Choice Award, SF Open Studios Exhibition at SomArts, October 2016
Selected by Maria Jenson, Executive Director, SomArts
Artist in Residence, San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, 3 month residency and two exhibitions. October-December 2016
2010 Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art (SECA) Award Nominee, San Francisco Museum of Contemporary Art