Artist Bio

Hello!

My name is Amber and one of my lifelong  passions is art!

I grew up in a creative family. There are cherished family photos existing of my much younger self sitting on my Great Grandmother’s lap, finger painting purple glazes onto her blank ceramic tiles. Some of my earliest memories are of watching my father spending hours tattooing clients in our living room and of my mother finding creative ways to make our meager living spaces feel like a warm cozy home. Many of my aunts, uncles and cousins also have creative skills of their own from ceramics to photography to beautiful woodworking. Talent in the arts runs in my family.

The Arts have always been my salvation and a way to communicate what I am often not comfortable to put into words. 

I was trained as a Printmaker with a minor in Art History during my undergraduate studies at Memphis College of Art (MCA) and as an Art Educator for my graduate studies at the School of Visual Arts (SVA).

Shortly after graduating from MCA I took different direction from Printmaking. Toward the end of my undergraduate education I had realized that what I enjoyed most was not making multiple prints of a single image; but staining  papers with tea and then using them to create mix media drawings with. Years later, when I took up a job that often kept me on the road for several months at a time in different hotels every night, I added digital photography to my creative process. The digital camera was the perfect outlet for a creative starved Amber away from the comforts of a studio.

While this page is dedicated solely to my documentation of American Rural Decay, you can also see some of my other photographic adventures and non-photographic artwork by visiting my other blog Chasing My Shadow

That is me in a small nutshell! Please feel free to ask questions or just drop a line and say hello. 🙂

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Education
2007 MAT, School of Visual Arts (SVA), New York City, NY
2003 BFA, Memphis College of Art (MCA), Memphis, TN

Exhibitions

2011 Ellarslie Open XXIX, Trenton City Museum, Trenton, NJ                                                                                               2009 Passing Strangers, Café Ole, Trenton, NJ
2009 Soul of Brazil, Robbinsville Library, NJ
2009 Where I am From, Gallery RFD, Swainsboro, GA
2009 International Photography, Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO
2009 Current Exposure, Gallery 125, Trenton, NJ
2009 Ellarslie Open XXVII, Trenton City Museum, Trenton, NJ
2009 Salon De Refuse III, Artworks Gallery, Trenton, NJ
2009 Sun & Shadow: The Soul of Brazil, Solo exhibit, Trinity Gallery, Trenton, NJ
2009 Mercer County Artists, MCCC Gallery, West Windsor, NJ
2009 It’s All About the Art, New Hope Art Center, New Hope, PA
2007 Portrait of an Artist Teacher, SVA Gallery, New York, NY
2007 Salon De Refuse I, Trenton City Museum, Trenton, NJ
2007 Ellarslie Open XXV, Trenton City Museum, Trenton, NJ
2007 Mercer County Art Show, MCCC Gallery, West Windsor, NJ
2006 Ellarslie Open XXIV, Trenton City Museum, Trenton, NJ
2005 Ellarslie Open XXIII, Trenton City Museum, Trenton, NJ
2003 Memphis College of Art BFA Exhibit, Memphis, TN
2003 Horne Island exhibit (19), Memphis, TN
2003 MCA Print Show, Memphis, TN
2003 MCA Student Council Juried Show, Memphis, TN
2002 Horne Island exhibit (18), Memphis, TN
2002 Southern Graphics Print Exchange, New Orleans, LA

Awards
2009 Viewers Choice Award, – Center for Fine art Photography, Fort Collins, CO

Residencies
2002, 2003 Horne Island Artist Workshop

Publications
Princeton Packet – Salon des Acceptances – May 11, 2007

Hijack Your Head – Who The Hell is Amber Palecek – July 14, 2014

Collections
New Orleans Museum of Art
Southern Graphics Council Archives

Experience

Guest Lecturer, Depauw University: Women Studies Department, Greencastle, IN; March 2012                                     Museum Assistant, Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie, Trenton, NJ; Nov 2004 – Jun 2006
Gallery Volunteer, MCCC Art Gallery, West Windsor, NJ; Feb 2004 – May 2005
Muralist, Bear Creek Assisted Living, E. Windsor, NJ; Nov 2003 – Mar 2004
Studio Assistant, MCA Paper and Print studios, Memphis, TN; Feb 2001 – May 2003