Holding the Tension Between Simple and Complex: Inside the Studio of Amy Spencer
Step Into My Studio — An Artist Interview by The Scouted Studio
Inside the Studio of Amy Spencer
Some artists make work that photographs well. Others make work that lives well.
Amy Spencer’s work belongs to the second category.
Her paintings do not rush. They settle. They reward sustained looking rather than quick consumption. When people describe her work, they often say the same thing. Interesting. Different. Holding the tension between simple and complex.
Amy agrees. And that alignment feels important.
Her work is restrained without feeling spare. The longer you live with it, the more it reveals itself.
Talking with Amy feels much the same way.
She notices things deeply. Language. Light. The way fabric softens a room. The color blue at different hours of the day. The pace of a morning when it is allowed to unfold slowly. This attentiveness shapes not just her work, but her entire creative life.
What lights her up most about being an artist is not certainty or mastery, but not knowing what will come next. The beginning is her favorite part. The moment before decisions harden. When intuition leads and the work is still becoming. That openness is where she feels most alive.
Outside the studio, Amy’s inspirations tell you a lot about her sensibility. She is reading Frederick Buechner and is drawn to beautiful language that lingers. She gravitates toward designers like Anna Spiro, Sarah Bartholomew, Caroline Gidiere, and Mark Sykes, all of whom balance tradition, warmth, and personality.
In art, she returns again and again to Matisse and Van Gogh. She loves the work of Wayne Pate and has recently been drawn to Renée Bouchon. Across all of these references runs a shared thread. Work that feels enduring rather than urgent.
Amy’s personal style overlaps naturally with her art. She describes it as classic, grounded largely in blues and neutrals. Blue appears repeatedly in her world. She is drawn to soft, inviting spaces layered with fabric, texture, and natural materials. Spaces that feel lived in rather than styled.
If someone wanted to understand her taste quickly, she would point them to Nancy Meyers. A reference that signals warmth, order, and a sense of beauty that feels human and familiar.
Her creative life is fed quietly. She is reading Plato’s Republic. Listening to the Old School podcast. Collecting older books and returning to the classics. Outside of art, one of the things bringing her the most joy right now is watching her son experience his first year of college at LSU. Paying attention to someone you love, right in the middle of becoming themselves.
One of the most important tools in Amy’s creative life is writing. She journals regularly, not as a separate habit, but as a way to think, notice, and make space for ideas to surface. Writing is part of how her art begins.
There are parts of her story that quietly inform this long view. She was married at age twenty, an experience that shaped her understanding of commitment, patience, and time. Those qualities echo subtly through her work.
When collectors ask how to style her work in their homes, Amy offers simple advice. Buy bigger than you think you need, or buy a pair. Her pieces are designed to be adaptable. They can anchor a space or quietly support it depending on scale, placement, and light. They are meant to live with you.
When someone brings her work into their home, she hopes it brings joy and wonder.
Outside the studio, Amy resets through rhythm. Her ideal slow morning begins around 6:45. A walk or run. Coffee. Prayer. Journaling and reading. One small joy bringing her disproportionate happiness lately is watching the sunset.
When asked what belief she is holding onto right now, her answer feels like a quiet thesis for her life and work.
Hurry is the enemy of attentiveness. Love often manifests as attentiveness. Listening. Caring. Noticing. Savoring. Cherishing. Being awestruck.
It is a belief you can feel in her paintings. And perhaps why they feel so natural to live with.
Explore the Work of Amy Spencer
Amy Spencer’s work is available through The Scouted Studio, where we represent artists whose practices are rooted in depth, restraint, and a way of seeing that values attention over noise.
Explore available works by Amy Spencer
This interview is part of Step Into My Studio, an ongoing artist interview series from The Scouted Studio highlighting the inner worlds, tastes, and creative rhythms of the artists we represent.