Amy was born in Norwood, MA. After a few moves and the tragic loss of her brother Peter, her family settled in the suburbs of Chicago when she was seven. Her early artistic pursuits involved spending hours in her room with a pencil and a sketchpad. In her 20’s, she began creating very controlled and structured mixed media work on canvas utilizing old textbooks, dictionaries and acrylic paint.
In 2000, Amy moved to Hong Kong and began exploring Southeast Asia. This experience opened up a whole new world of art, culture and the desire for exploration. She opened up a home décor shop & art gallery in Chicago in September of 2001. It’s during this time she started showing and selling her work.
Amy is a self-taught artist. She now works mainly in the medium of Encaustic. Although she creates quite spontaneously, there’s always a hint of structure and control to her paintings. Space, time and transition are common themes in her work. She moved with her family to Santa Fe, NM in 2016. They also have a home in Telluride they frequent as often as possible. The mountains, sunsets and blue skies of New Mexico and Colorado have a huge influence on Amy’s paintings.
Van Winkle is represented by galleries in the U.S. as well as Taiwan. She is widely collected in both private and corporate collections. She lives full-time in Santa Fe with her husband Mike, son Declan and two dogs, Seamus and Oliver.