Amy Laskins’ interest in art began as a child. Her parents sought to foster her talent and enrolled her in classes at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Every week after class as she pored through the museums vast collections, the world of art captured her imagination and artistic aspirations developed exponentially.

Laskin received her BFA from the Pennsylvania State University, and her MFA from ( SAIC) The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The years she spent in Chicago had a profound influence on her. She was excited by Chicago’s artists and the “Chicago Imagist” movement that exploded the decade before. She sought to make beautiful exotic and unusual images, carefully executed with precision and detail.

In 1986, Laskin arrived in Jamaica with a three year contract as a Peace Corps volunteer. She felt immediately that with Jamaica’s rich biodiversity, lush vegetation and voluminous mountains, Jamaica would forever serve as a never ending source of inspiration. She felt it would have a positive impact as she hunted for ways to marry her Chicago influences with her new natural environment. She found a studio cottage in the rural mountainous area outside of Kingston where she had beautiful vistas and space to make her art. She continues to use this cottage to this day.

Laskin wants to leave her viewers with strong memorable feelings that seek to honor natures’ mystery. She wants to draw attention to the undeniable interconnectedness between the natural world and humankind. She feels that this awareness and appreciation becomes increasingly important as our climate warms and our lives and environments become threatened.

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