Micro Macro: Worlds of Compositions
Taste Design is delighted to welcome Amy Genser as our 2026-27 Artist in Residence. Amy is a Connecticut-based mixed-media artist whose work is recognized for its richly layered, dimensional surfaces created from thousands of hand-rolled paper elements. Working with paper as both material and pigment, Amy builds tactile, sculptural compositions that reference natural systems—waterways, cellular growth, erosion patterns, and shifting landscapes—inviting viewers to experience the relationship between microscopic detail and expansive, environmental form.
Amy’s exhibition, Micro Macro: Worlds of Compositions will open at Taste Design on Thursday, June 4, and remain on display throughout her residency. Please see below for details and to RSVP to the event.
Opening Reception for Amy Genser, 2026-27 Artist in Residence
Thursday, June 4 | 5:00-7:00pm
Taste Design Inc.
170 Aquidneck Avenue
Middletown, RI 02842
Artist Statement
Using paper as both material and pigment, I create dimensional, textural works built from thousands of hand-rolled paper elements. Each small module is shaped, placed, and layered by hand, forming organic surfaces that reference natural systems such as waterways, cellular growth, erosion patterns, and shifting landscapes.
My work lives in the space between the micro and the macro. From a distance, the pieces read as expansive aerial views or evolving ecosystems. Up close, they reveal individual units—repetitive, quiet actions that slowly accumulate into complex structures. I am drawn to this tension between chaos and order, between the unpredictability of nature and the deliberate, meditative nature of making.
The natural world is a constant source of inspiration—moving water, barnacles and moss, beehives, rock formations, and the subtle rhythms found in biological processes. These forms mirror how I experience both landscape and life: layered, interconnected, and continuously in flux. My compositions are not planned in a fixed way. Instead, I respond intuitively as the work grows, allowing patterns to emerge through repetition, density, and subtle shifts in color and texture.
The slow, labor-intensive process is essential to the meaning of the work. Rolling and placing each element becomes a physical record of time, attention, and presence. This method reflects my interest in how small gestures—often unseen or overlooked—can shape larger systems, whether in nature or in human experience.
Through these tactile, immersive surfaces, I aim to create spaces that invite pause and close looking. The work offers a moment of quiet observation, encouraging viewers to move between intimate detail and expansive perspective, and to consider how interconnected forces—natural, emotional, and environmental—continually shape the world around us.
About Amy
Amy Genser opened her studio practice in 2001 after earning her MFA in Graphic Design from the Rhode Island School of Design, where a papermaking course fundamentally redirected her creative path. What began as an exploration of material evolved into a signature studio practice centered on the slow, meditative process of rolling, shaping, and assembling individual paper modules into complex, organic structures. Her work is driven by a sustained interest in the tension between chaos and order, intuition and structure, and the accumulation of small, repetitive gestures into immersive visual environments.
Deeply inspired by the natural world, Genser draws from landscapes and ecosystems including waterways, moss, barnacles, beehives, and rock formations, as well as from aerial and satellite perspectives that reveal nature’s hidden patterns. These influences inform both the physical construction of her work and its conceptual foundation, emphasizing interconnectedness, growth, and continual transformation.
Genser’s practice extends beyond the gallery into large-scale public and commissioned projects. Her work can be found in hospitals, corporate collections, museums, and private collections internationally. She has created site specific installations for healthcare, hospitality, and corporate environments.
Through her labor-intensive, hands-on process, Genser creates immersive surfaces that encourage slow looking and quiet reflection. Her work offers viewers an opportunity to move between intimate detail and expansive perspective, echoing the rhythms and complexity of the natural systems that continue to shape her practice.
To learn more about Amy and her work, please visit www.amygenser.com.
Available Work by Amy Genser
Education
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island
MFA in Graphic Design, 2001
Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri
BA in History with Honors, 1996
Solo Exhibitions
Amy Simon Fine Art, Westport, CT 2021, 2023
EBK Gallery, Hartford, CT, “Paintings and Paper” , July, 2018
LongView Gallery, Washington DC, “Entertwined” , Nov/Dec, 2013
LongViewGallery, Washington DC, “Coiled Terrain”, 2011
The Chase Family Gallery at the Mandell JCC, Bloomfield, CT, 2011
Mark Gallery, Cambridge, MA, 2004
Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, MA, 2002
Public Art Installations
“Shifting” – Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA 2022 – present
“Synapse” – Promega Corporation, Madison, WI 2021
“Confluence” – University of Iowa Health Center lobby, Iowa City, IA, 2019
“Flow” – Nemours Alfred I. DuPont Hospital for Children, Wilmington, DE
“GalaxSea” – Ocean Garden Mural, Tenerife, Spain, 2018
Workshop murals with students in West Hartford Public Schools, CT
Selected Collections
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Ally Bank, Jacksonville, FL |
Mercedes Benz, Bethesda, MD |
Awards
CodaAward, CodaWorx, Best of Hospitality 2025
Fiber Art Now Award of Excellence in installation, 2023
Fiber Art Now Award of Excellence in Wall/Floor category, 2022
CodaAward, CodaWorx, Best in Wall Category, 2020
Surface Design Assoc, Best in Show, 2020
Collector’s Award Westchester Craft Show, 2007