The Butler Institute of American Art announced it will host its CAN Triennial Exhibition Prize show this spring by Cleveland painter and printmaker, Amy Casey.

In 2022, curators from the Butler attended the Triennial, an exhibition put on by the Collective Art Network (CAN) of Cleveland as part of their newly created partnership with nine regional museums. It's goal was to assist in advancing the careers of artists by allowing them the opportunity to host a solo show.

At this exhibit, the Butler chose Amy Casey as their 2022 CAN Triennial Exhibition Prize winner. 

Casey resides in the Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland, which can be seen in bits in her work. Most of the buildings she paints are real buildings, though sometimes altered. Casey has made a large series of paintings that explore various mechanisms of catastrophe by using images of buildings as stand-ins for human action and endeavor. 

In a recent statement, Amy said:

"I have been working on a series of cityscapes of a sort—buildings wrenched out of an environment, strung together, flung about, and stacked together to build their own land. In the last few years, however, the buildings have started exploding, collapsing, or otherwise scattering, and their residents have been finding new ground. Nature has entered the paintings and begun a difficult negotiation with the buildings. In 2024, nature is on shakier ground than ever in a changing climate, and, though still inviting, nature is both under threat from us and threatening us in return. As we cycle through seemingly never-ending disasters from rising heat, I can't help but admire and despair at the beautiful, terrible resilience and adaptive power (or obstinance) of humans and the environment. I try to balance catastrophe, adaptation, and recovery in my paintings. In this work I tried to present both things falling apart and potential escapes and new beginnings. I hope to achieve something disquieting but also joyful as a celebration of living in the world. I hope to bring imagery and paint together in a way that represents in part what it's like to be alive in this overwhelming place and time."

Casey received her BFA in Painting from the Cleveland Institute of Art and attended the Yale Summer School of Art and Music. She is a two-time recipient of the Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award. Amy has gallery representation in Chicago and NYC and has had many solo and two-person exhibitions throughout the country.

Her exhibition will be on view in the Davis Gallery from March 17-May 12, 2024. 

There will be a meet the artist Reception on March 17 from 1:00-3:00pm