For over a decade I’ve drawn more than 1,200 species for my ongoing project “All Species, All the Time.” I’m interested in the places where human culture intersects with the natural world. Here there is joy, tragedy, absurdity, terror, confusion, and humor. I want to understand how we relate to animals and how that is changing with the advent of new technologies. My drawings are a kind of natural history experiment and homage to the life around us. I’m currently working on a series of monarch butterflies (whose amazing migration is quickly diminishing) and a series of vulnerable hedgehogs (whose numbers are rapidly dwindling).
BORN
1975 Indianapolis, Indiana
Lives and works in Bethany, Connecticut
Selected Recent Solo Exhibitions
2015 Social Butterflies, Gleichapel, Paris, France
2012 Of Lamb, Umpqua Valley Arts Center, Oregon
2011 The Making Of Lamb, Real Art Ways, Hartford
2011 Of Lamb, P.P.O.W. (project room), New York
Selected Recent Group Exhibitions
2018
The Cosmic Garden, Orticolario, Villa Erba, Cernobbo (CO), Italy
2015
We Got Spirit, Yes We Do: The Complete Works of the Lovey Town Archive, Unity Gallery, Fairfield, Iowa
2014
I Can’t Spell Group without a You, Lovey Town
2013
Tweet, Children’s Museum of the Arts, New York
Unhinged, Pierogi Gallery, Brooklyn
Visual Aids Annual Postcards from the Edge Benefit (2003–13)
2012
The Words and Pictures Show, Matthea Harvey & Amy Jean Porter, Flying Object, Hadley, Massachusetts (catalogue)
A Perfect Day, Westergasfabriek, Amsterdam
2011
Out of Nature: An Exhibition of Alternatives, The Institute Library, New Haven (curated by Stephen Kobasa)
2010
Wings: The Imagery of Flight, Seattle ArtResource
Selected Collections
Dell Children’s Medical Center, Austin, TX
Deutsche Bank, Dubai
Selected Book Collaborations
2016
The Artists’ and Writers’ Cookbook, A collection of stories with Recipes, edited by Natalie Eve Garrett (illustrations)
2013
Spider, Man (an arty comic book; Hic & Hoc/Flying Object)
2011
Of Lamb (collaboration with Matthea Harvey; McSweeney’s Books)
Selected Book Collections
Curiosity and Method: Ten Years of Cabinet Magazine (Cabinet Books, 2012)
Art of McSweeney’s (Chronicle Books, 2010)
More Things Like This (Chronicle Books, 2009; includes an interview)
McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern; artist’s project, Tiny Horses Say What (Issue 25)
Greetings from the Ocean’s Sweaty Face: 100 McSweeney’s Postcards (Chronicle, 2009)
Other Publications
spiralbound/Medium; “Some Bunnies, Late Spring” (June 19, 2018)
Topic; “A Bustle in the Hedgerow” (May 1, 2018)
The Awl; “Winter Is for House Mice” (January 3, 2018)
spiralbound/Medium; “A Toothpick at Every Meal” (December 13, 2017)
The Awl; “Fall Is for Squirrels” (October 25, 2017)
The Awl; “Summer Is for Herons” (August 23, 2017)
Lucky Peach; “Bananas” drawings and poems for issue 23 “The Suburbs”
Poetry Society of America; “Some Bunnies” (April 13, 2017)
The Awl; “Winter to Spring” (March 20, 2017)
The Awl; “Fall to Winter” (December 21, 2016)
The Awl; “We Have No Other Bananas” (November 22, 2016)
The Hairpin; “Summer to Fall” (September 22, 2016)
The Hairpin; “Spring to Summer,” (June 13, 2016)
The Awl; “Drawings in a Hurry” (monthly-ish series, 2009–12)
Lucky Peach; drawings for issue 6 “The Apocalypse“
Meatpaper; artist’s sketchbook (issues 14, 17, 19)
ONLINE
Gleichapel, gleichapel.org
20×200; limited-edition prints
TheAwl.com; “Drawings in a Hurry” (monthly-ish series, 2009–11)
Aol Artists; drawings for first day of spring (aolartists.com)
Pierogi, Brooklyn; flat files (www.pierogi2000.com)
The Drawing Center, New York; online portfolio (www.drawingcenter.org)
Underwater New York; a humpback whale (underwaternewyork.com)
Fine Art Adoption Network; cool site for adopting artwork (www.fineartadoption.net)
The Sparky Project; Nelson and Sparky are the best! (www.sparkyandnelson.com)
INTERVIEWS
— “Amy Jean Porter: All Species, All the Time,” Carolyn Turgeon, Faerie magazine [pdf]
— “The Magic of Amy Jean Porter,” Derek Erdman, The Stranger (Oct. 18, 2011)
— “from the desk of …,” Kate Donnelly, fromyourdesks.com (July 2011)
— “Stranger Territories: Reinterpreting Mary’s Lamb,” Nozlee Samadzadeh, Artlog (Jun. 22, 2011)
— “Interview, Matthea Harvey & Amy Jean Porter,” Erik Bryan, The Morning News (Jun. 1, 2011)
— More Things Like This (Chronicle Books, 2009; includes an interview)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
— “Words of a Feather,” Barbara A. MacAdam, Artnews (January 2014) [pdf]
— “Marvelous Medicine: Books for Precocious Kids and Kid-Hearted Grownups,” Dan Pinkerton, [PANK] magazine (Dec. 28, 2013)
— “Critic’s Pick,” George Stolz, ARTnews (February 2013) [pdf]
— “The End of Summer, The Exit from Cat Town,” Amy Shearn, Oprah.com (Sept. 17, 2012)
— “Freaked Out Monkeys,” TIJDSCHRIFT ei #7 (summer 2012)
— “Calf-love Is Fanciful, Wistful,” Samantha Zighelboim, THEThe Poetry (Jun. 14, 2012)
— “Absent Things as if They Are Present: A History Of Literature Created By Erasure, Collage, Omission, And Wite-Out,” Jeanne Vanasco, The Believer (Jan. 2012)
— “Six Graphic Novels that Will Draw You In,” Dan Kois, NPR (Dec. 21, 2011)
— “The Best Books of 2011 You Haven’t Read,” Elissa Schappell, Vanity Fair (Dec. 13, 2011)
— “11 Books You Will Fall in Love with Instantly,” Leigh Newman and Abbe Wright, Oprah.com (Dec. 7, 2011)
— “Mercurial Lamb: A Narrative of Collaborative Mutation,” Eric Kim, West 10th (Oct. 23, 2011)
— “The Making ‘Of Lamb’ at Real Art Ways,” Susan Dunne, Hartford Courant (Oct. 13, 2011)
— “Critics’ Pick: Amy Jean Porter,” Alpesh Kantilal Patel, Artforum.com (July 2011)
— “Making ‘Of Lamb,’” Thessaly La Force, The Paris Review Daily (Jul. 6, 2011)
— “Of Lamb: A Children’s Classic Retold for Contrarians,” Kirstin Butler, Brain Pickings (Jul. 11, 2011)
TEACHING, TALKS, RESIDENCIES
University of New Haven, CT; lecturer (2012-current)
Umpqua Community College, OR; visiting artist (November 2012)
Artspace New Haven, CT; public school program (spring 2012)
Weir Farm NHS, Wilton, CT (February 2007)
Millay Colony, Austerlitz, NY (May 2006)
New York Studio Program; visiting artist (April 2005)
The Cleveland Institute of Art; visiting artist (January 2005)
Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA; lecturer (2002–2003)
Burren College of Art, Co. Clare, Ireland; lecturer (1999–2000)
EDUCATION
2000 — M.Phil. Textual and Visual Studies, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
1997 — B.A. Humanities, Yale University