Amie Oliver

Amie Oliver balances her full time studio practice with teaching and mentorship to artists of all ages.  Her experience teaching painting, drawing and mixed media for the MIS Degree and Studio Arts Foundation Program of Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts , as a lecturer  at  John Tyler Community College and an Associate Professor at Longwood College and Mississippi State University has helped many artists find their way pre and post degree.  She currently offers art workshops and short courses for adults and teens at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond and other non-profit art centers. Her private studio consultations for artists of every level are rewarding for both the artist and mentor. Amie's experience teaching in higher education includes summer courses overseas for Tyler School of Art of Temple University and for Mississippi State University at The Glasgow School of Art as well as weekend courses for The Richard Bland College of William and Mary.


Oliver enrolled in art classes at Delta State University as a teen where she was influenced by acclaimed Delta artists Lee and Pup McCarty. She is a graduate of Mississippi State University (BA) where she was awarded the 2013 Distinguished Alumni Fellowship, for the College of
Architecture, Art and Design
. Amie earned the M.F.A. from  Bowling Green State University by the the time she was 24. She completed post grad course work at Tyler School of Art of Temple University and at the Visual Studies Workshop through the State University of New York, where she studied with acclaimed Book Artist Keith Smith.

Oliver's artwork has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in the United States, Europe, China, S. Korea, Tibet and Australia. Her studio practice has been supported by fellowship and exchange opportunities at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris, the Oberfalzer Kunstlerhaus in Schwandorf, Germany, Moulin a Nef in Auvillar, France, the Metasenta Foundation for a project in Tibet, China, and the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, VT. 

Her art is in numerous corporate and private collections and in the permanent collections such as the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, Washington, D.C., Delta State University, Cleveland, MS, Longwood Center for Visual Arts,  The Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review, Hampden-Sydney, VA; Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, Capital One, Media General, the Medical College of Virginia of Virginia Commonwealth University, Mississippi State University, MS; the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Amherst, VA and the Oberpfalzer Kunstlerhaus, Schwandorf, Germany. 
 
Oliver has curated and juried numerous exhibitions throughout the mid-atlantic region for Capital One,  initiated the Satellite Exhibition Program of 1708 Gallery and was on the steering committee of the Inaugural 1708 Gallery InLight Richmond. Her work with non-profits bagan early when served on the State Board of Directors for the YWCA of Mississippi while a college student and as a teen she was the Southeast Region Representative for the National Board of Directos of the YWCA in New York City, where the mission directive in 1978 was  the empowerment of women and the elimination of racism.

Oliver has been a curator and advocate for other non-profit exhibition spaces such as Artspace Richmond, the Advisory Board for Iridian Gallery and the Fellows Council of the Virginia Center for Creative Arts.  She currently serves on the Board of Directors of 1708 Gallery in Richmond, VA.

Oliver is the proprietor and an artist at The Art Lab @ 2216 Hull St in the Manchester district of Richmond, Virginia. She shares her life with journalist, writer and actor Harry Kollatz, Jr  and a large, affectionate pittie rescued from the SPCA in Richmond, Va.



polaroid photo by Kellie McGarrh