Biography
As long as Amy Lamb can remember, she always loved plants. She grew up in Birmingham, Michigan where collecting and preserving flowers was a summer hobby. Amy graduated from the University of Michigan with a Ph.D. in Biology and a passion for the scientific beauty of the natural world. Through her research at the Basel Institute for Immunology in Switzerland and the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, Amy’s appreciation for biological structures and their processes matured.
The experience of raising a family stimulated Amy’s reflection on children’s seemingly simple questions about nature like:
- Why do vines curl?
- How do plants transport water to their leaves?
- Why are hairs found on some plants and not on others?
With innate curiosity and a deep desire to more fully understand the natural world, Amy carefully observed plants and increasingly became aware of structural similarities in forms found in nature. The spirals of emerging fern fronds, the layers of petals in blossoms, branched veins in leaves, and the radial and bilateral symmetries of daisies and orchids are both structurally significant and aesthetically intriguing. The beauty of botanical design reveals the close relationship of science and art.
With a growing interest in gardening, Amy cultivated a variety of plants, from sun lovers to shade seekers, from wildflowers to cultivars. Seeking to communicate their beauty Amy studied photography. She visually connected the forms observed in her flowers to forms throughout the universe: spiral galaxies, branching rivers, layered rock formations, beautifully symmetrical organisms, and more. The focus of her art is to reveal this relationship.
With photography Amy creates large, colorful floral portraits as well as small, intimate views to celebrate and share the magnificent beauty of nature.
In watching the flower of a Columbine develop from its early springtime bud to its bloom, Amy likened this unfurling to the creation of an organic origami blossom. Connecting with Robert J. Lang brought this conceptual vision to reality in their first collaborative piece: folding a print of Columbine I, by Amy Lamb into Columbine, Opus 635, by Robert Lang. This was like a beautiful recursive creation, as Robert named the series of flowers that Robert and Amy create.
Amy Lamb’s photographs can be viewed on her website.
