Abstract Glass Photography, by Amy Schmutte

	Biography
	On Halloween of 1974, I was born into my beloved family of six, in Cincinnati Ohio. When I was three, we relocated to Milwaukee Wisconsin, and (aside from plenty of adventurous travels) it’s the city I’m still proud to call home. I feel lucky to say that childhood with my family was very happy. However, school was a different story. I guess I was the stereotypical “feeling out-of-place” and “uncomfortable-with-the-norm” introverted artist gal. In my college years at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, I started to lose that out-of-place feeling. I found an acute form of self-expression through fine-art photography (specifically during my thesis on abstractions of glass). However, with the foresight that fine art rarely pays the bills, I acquired the skills to support myself with a career in commercial photography. At this point, I find solace in the escape through fine art, from the norms of the commercial world and the technological rat race that comes with it. I've become focused on creating surreal, abstract photography of glass through old school, traditional photographic means. I hope that by sharing my vision with others, I may provide the same sort of escape through art.