Amalia Hoffman

category: Literary, Visual,

Contact & Info

Website: http://www.amaliahoffman.com

Phone: 914 834 4920

  • amaliah@optonline.net

Artist Statement

As an artist and a writer, I am interested in interweaving visual images and words in creating a narrative experience.  The viewer looks at my images, reads a “story” or anecdote but is also encouraged to make up his or her own tale.  I believe that art is not limited to objects that are exhibited in galleries or museums.  My goal is to reach as broad a spectrum of the population as possible.  For that reason, I am especially interested in creating picture books.  A book can be borrowed from a library or purchased inexpensively.  Thus, people of various economic, intellectual or racial backgrounds can have access to it.  While going to a museum or gallery involves a trip, a book can be enjoyed in one’s living room, on the subway, in the park, on the beach and during a plane ride.  A book can also be enjoyed on-line or on Kindle.  It is available to senior citizens and disabled people who are home bound and to children everywhere.  I have written and illustrated several children's picture books.  I like to experiment in various techniques such as pencil, watercolor, acrylic and mixed media.  I enjoy creating three dimensional theatrical tableaux where the story is integrated into the “stage’ the way an actor narrates a play.  The three dimensional constructions are then photographed so I can reproduce them. I designed and illustrated an oversized book with pop-up elements for the production of Rose Bud at Israel’s children’s theater, The Train. I am  the author/illustrator of two  board books, Astro Pea and All Colors (Schiffer Publishing, 2019.) My nonfiction book, The Brave Cyclist (Capstone Publishing) was published in August, 2019.My board book, Dreidel Day (Lerner/Kar Ben Publishing, 2018) is a PJ Library book and received the PJ Library Author Incentive Award.I received the Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators  2005 award for illustration in the category of Fantasy. My  portfolio was selected as the winning portfolio in the 2014 21st Century Non Fiction Conference. I perform my stories in schools, libraries and bookstores dressed up in costumes with puppets and props.I created innovative window displays for New York City’s prestigious stores including Tiffany, Fortunoff, Bloomingdales and Macy’s.

 

 


Educational Background

 

Masters degree in art and art education from New York University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honors from Pratt Institute.

 


Teaching Artist Experience

Search for Change, White Plains - led adults in a group project creating a giant dreamcatcher.  Search for Change, Scarsdale/Mamaroneck - women with mental illness created handmade jewelry, napkin holders, greeting cards and table centerpieces.  Museum School 25/Pulaski School, Yonkers - taught grades K-4 children using ink blots about negative/positive space, storytelling skills, shapes using collage, problem solving through textures, and puppetry to develop narrative skills.  Hope's Door - women and children created picture books by combining their art and words in book forms.  Longfellow Elementary School - 3rd graders, general and special education, created innovative art projects including paper puppets, collage, paper sculptures and picture books to enrich and expand on the study of frogs and their habitats.  School 13 - created innovative after-school programs for grades 2-7 including paper sculpture, painting and collage to improve reading and writing skills and to expand comprehension of negative/positive space, symmetry, textures, mixed media and combining pictures and text.