An artist of unique versatility, was born in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. Timid and introverted as a child, Victoria is the 7th of 8 children born to Felicita Rivera Martel, a talented seamstress who created sumptuous bridal gowns and Ricardo Amy who was a brilliant industrial mechanic and inventor of sorts. So as a child, creativity and the arts were a part of Victoria’s everyday life. Her older brothers later pursued careers in the areas of interior design, painting and sculpture while her sisters became artists in the crafts of theatrical makeup, hairstyling and couture design.
When she was a young girl, her parent’s rocky marriage ended in a highly publicized divorce and Victoria and the youngest siblings moved to New York City with their mother. It was in NYC where she discovered her love for drawing cartoons as she daydreamed in class because of the language barrier. As a young woman, Victoria married a Puerto Rican painter and it was then that she explored the areas of painting in various media, woodcarving and jewelry-making while working at her husband’s art studio and later other art studios in Chicago that would raise her confidence as an artist. The turbulent marriage ended in divorce and served as a turning point in her life.
Soon after, Victoria moved to Puerto Rico with her daughter Christina and worked as a commercial artist in San Juan. Upon moving to Florida, she began to experiment more and more with theatrical and TV makeup lending her the opportunity to work with famous celebrities and artists. All the while her first love, painting, has evolved from still life to landscapes, seascapes and portraits.
As a perpetual student of life and the arts, Victoria has traveled to the places where great masters such as Claude Monet, Michelangelo, Vincent van Gogh and Leonardo da Vinci lived and worked. It was by seeing the body of their work close-up that she has become greatly inspired by their struggles, their victories and their relentless zeal for learning. Having visited Claude Monet’s home studio and lush gardens located in Giverny, France, Victoria was captivated by the way in which Monet interpreted light in nature. Her largest yet was an homage to the French impressionist.
Victoria continues to dedicate her energies and talents to makeup for television, commercials, jewelry design and is working on an upcoming series of oil paintings featuring close-ups in nature.
Victoria Amy in the news:
