Amelia Toelke
Amelia Toelke is a visual artist who grew up in New York State’s Hudson Valley. Toelke holds a BFA in Metals and Jewelry from the State University of New York at New Paltz and an MFA in Visual Art from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
An interest in public art, teaching, and cultural exchange guides much of Toelke’s practice. In 2010 she participated in a project sponsored by the Wisconsin Percent for Art Program where she worked collaboratively to install a permanent public sculpture on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. In 2012 Toelke contributed an outdoor work as part of the bicentennial commemoration for the city of Evansville, Indiana, for which she received Best in Show. Between 2012 and 2016, Toelke co-curated the traveling group exhibition At Your Service, most recently on view at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. In 2015, Toelke was selected as an artist in residence at Lanzhou City University in Lanzhou, China where she had the opportunity to work with students, experiment with traditional materials such as lacquer, and learn from her surrounding environment. In 2016 she was awarded a residency at Brush Creek Center for the Arts in Saratoga, Wyoming and later that year she participated in Artisterium, an international symposium held in Tblisi, Georgia.
Toelke has taught workshops at Brooklyn Metal Works, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, and Peters Valley School of Crafts as well as semester long classes at State University of New York at New Paltz. Toelke lives in Chatham, New York.
An interest in public art, teaching, and cultural exchange guides much of Toelke’s practice. In 2010 she participated in a project sponsored by the Wisconsin Percent for Art Program where she worked collaboratively to install a permanent public sculpture on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. In 2012 Toelke contributed an outdoor work as part of the bicentennial commemoration for the city of Evansville, Indiana, for which she received Best in Show. Between 2012 and 2016, Toelke co-curated the traveling group exhibition At Your Service, most recently on view at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. In 2015, Toelke was selected as an artist in residence at Lanzhou City University in Lanzhou, China where she had the opportunity to work with students, experiment with traditional materials such as lacquer, and learn from her surrounding environment. In 2016 she was awarded a residency at Brush Creek Center for the Arts in Saratoga, Wyoming and later that year she participated in Artisterium, an international symposium held in Tblisi, Georgia.
Toelke has taught workshops at Brooklyn Metal Works, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, and Peters Valley School of Crafts as well as semester long classes at State University of New York at New Paltz. Toelke lives in Chatham, New York.
