Amy Marques
Amy Marques grew up between languages and places and learned, from an early age, the multiplicity of narratives. She’s lived in cities and towns on more than one continent and found, ultimately, more similarities than differences between places she’s called home. She’s collected degrees and specializations and loves to find the frontiers between areas of knowledge: she initially got a medical degree and did her residency in pediatrics, but early into her practice she realized there was a need for more and went back to graduate school to pursue further degrees with focuses on child development, psychology, behavior, and education. These multiple areas of knowledge bled into her practice and her teaching.
She penned children’s books, barely-read medical papers, and numerous letters before turning to creative writing and visual poetry. And, much like her day job, it is no wonder that in art she blends genres and enjoys hybrid work: short prose, poetry, merging of languages, visual elements, found poetry, found material, and a tendency to not only seek to work outside the box, but to resist boxes whenever possible.
PARTS: Visual Found Poetry of Thomas Wolfe's "The Party at Jack's"
Found poetry has never been more colorful
Full of collage, acrylics, and ink, PARTS redefines the art of found poetry while simultaneously subverting the ennui and angst of Thomas Wolfe's "The Party at Jack's," carving out the many rays of hope and beauty. Themed by searches for identity and appreciation of familial comfort, this collection pops off the page, photographed with visual depth and scrappy edges to highlight the raw process and immerse the reader in the tactile art experience.
PRAISE FOR PARTS
Nikki Dudley,
editor at streetcake magazine
Amy's work brings fresh beauty and invention to the creation of others. She carefully isolates particular words that create new meaning and brings them to life with beautiful artwork. Amy has a keen eye for pulling out little pieces of life from pages full of text and making a completely fresh perspective for the reader. I always love seeing what Amy will do on the page - her creativity bursts out in every piece.
Matt Kendrick,
author, editor, and teacher
"The name of this book suggests the content will be 'more than the sum of its parts' and that is certainly fitting, although it perhaps does injustice to the parts themselves. The words are beautiful. The artwork is beautiful. And the two marry together into something that is richly creative and completely unique."
Francine Witte,
author of RADIO WATER
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PARTS is a visually stunning marriage of original painting over the selected words of a longer work. The newly chosen words work to form something new. That these paintings are done directly on the pages of the old book is miracle enough, but the result is even more so. It creates a synergy that will take you beyond painting and poetry, but straight into the heart and imagination of Amy Marques. Brilliant and captivating.
"Parts is a beautifully rendered celebration of beguiling words and enchanting artwork. Amy Marques has skillfully selected text from the original work to reveal new and tender meanings, and enriched these with her own art. Sometimes delicate, sometimes bold, but always brimming with feeling."
- Laura Black, editor at Fictive Dream
"Amy Marques creates a dream-filled disturbance of visual magic in her erasure book, Parts. Fugue memories that crystallize on each page with 'words enhanced to witness something.' Marques witnesses much through these woven words and images of color and light. She is an explorer, through and through, with each dip of the pen and paintbrush. A journey through tapestry and stained glass. Mesmerizing and phenomenal! LOVE!"
- Meg Tuite, author of Planked By The Abyss
"Found art within art or non-art beautifully collides with images that allow the proliferation of more meaning. Amy’s work is so much fun! I feel the tug of a metaphor for life: in the madness, art blooms. I love this book!"
- Nina Schuyler, author of the award-winning collection In This Ravishing World
"Amy Marque’s Parts is more than the sum of its confetti words and art. Life is skillfully and emotionally re-illustrated, reimagined, and rewritten by Marques on each page. Wolfe’s words fade as Marques’ new arrangements shine, and also end by describing her too: magnificent, patient, passionate, incredible, joyful, magical, gleeful, compelling, fascinating, encouraging. Her restless creativity imagines things like a lighthouse person and a time when spontaneity lighted a thoughtless everything. This is erasure at its most respectful and risky. To borrow Marques’ words now: I enjoyed it to the full."
- Amy Barnes, author of Child Craft
Look inside...
here are some of our favorite pages of PARTS
"Family could remember and looked on admiringly. But everyone thought of all the luxury and wealth that world could offer."
"Were they mad? Love and tenderness. It's just the thing you need. It's all right, I'll make it for you."
Get your copy of PARTS
192 pages, premium color on photo-weight satin paper
192 pages, premium color PDF with live links
Also by Amy...
DUETS: An Anthology of Conversations Between Arts & Artists
46 pieces of visual art by Amy Marques, each paired with a written piece by a different author. DUETS also includes a "Behind the Scenes" B-side, where readers can learn more about the process behind the pieces.