Amy Cropper, MFA

Amy Cropper teaches sculpture, drawing and freshmen and senior seminars. Cropper received her Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa in Intermedia Arts in 1993. She did her undergraduate work at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA, graduating with a B.A. in Art and English in 1985.

Cropper's work ranges from sculpture to installation to drawing. Since the 90's, she has been interested in the overlay between nature-made process and human-made order. She has exhibited her work nationally and regionally and completed several public art commissions. In 2022, she was awarded 1st Place in the competitive Wisconsin Artists Biennial held at the Museum of Wisconsin Art. Her current work explores the idea of home through the study and manipulation of specially-designed birdhouses, which she brings into the studio once the birds have abandoned them. 
 

• University of Iowa, M.F.A.
• Whitman College, B.A.

Mixed-media sculpture, drawing and collage

Recent Solo & Two-Person Exhibitions

New Work, Museum of Wisconsin Art, West Bend, WI, 2024
Breaking Boundaries, Bliss Gallery, Carroll University, Waukesha WI, 2020
Circles, Squares & Rectangles: Mixed-Media Collages, Galleria Edge, Waukesha, WI, 2016
Below the Surface: Mixed-Media Landscapes, Alfons Gallery, Milwaukee WI, 2015 
Field and Sky: Mixed-Media Landscapes, The Fine Art Gallery, Milwaukee WI, 2014
Inside Outside/Inverse: Amy Cropper and Stuart Morris, Lynden Sculpture Garden, Milwaukee WI, 2011

Public Commissions/Permanent Collections

Circle with Leaves ‘09, Carroll University Wisconsin Collection, Waukesha, WI, 2012 
Circle with Grass ‘09, Carroll University Wisconsin Collection, Waukesha, WI, 2011 
Garden House I and II, Waukesha Public Library, Waukesha, WI, 2009   
The Debot Chairs, UW-Steven’s Pt. Residence Hall Project, WI Percent for Art Program, Steven’s Pt., WI, May 9, 2007

• Member, City of Waukesha Public Art Committee, 2020-present
• Chair, Visual and Performing Arts Department, 2014-2018    
• Member, Faculty Executive Committee, ​2014-16 
• Chair, General and Cross-Cultural Education Committee, 2013-14    
• Co-Chair, General and Cross-Cultural Education Committee, ​ 2011-13

• First Place, Wisconsin Artists Biennial, Museum of Wisconsin Art, West Bend, WI, 2022
• Artist & Display Memorial Award, MATA Drawing, Photo, Print Show, Atrium Gallery, Carroll University, Waukesha, WI, 2016
• People’s Choice Award, Beloit & Vicinity Exhibition, Wright Museum, Beloit College, July 2015. My work was featured on the cover of the 2016 exhibition catalog.
• Best in Show, MATA fall membership exhibition. Bliss Gallery, Waukesha, WI. ​2014, Grant: Greater Milwaukee Foundation (Mary L. Nohl Fund,) Co-Director. Result: Waukesha Community Sculpture Project with Visiting Artist Kasia Ozga, June 2015
• Faculty Development Grant, Carroll University. Result: Art, Corn, and Ritual: Revisiting the Traditions of the Zinacanteco through the Sculptural Object, a new body of work with exhibition and talk at THE Fine Art Gallery in 2014, Milwaukee, WI, 2013-14
• The Norman and Louise Allhiser Award for Excellence in Teaching, Carroll College, ​1999-00

I like a casual atmosphere in my classroom because it fosters honesty, risk-taking and mutual respect. Students call me by my first name, which is typical in all of the art classes at Carroll, because we are working together to improve their art work.

I teach art because making art is completely absorbing and rewarding. Assisting students with that experience is equally rewarding. In the classroom, I work to inspire them and regularly find that, when I am back in the studio, my students have inspired me.

I ask my students to research, write and talk about the ideas behind their projects. I ask them to connect their art work to broader conversations outside of the classroom.

I wanted to be a veterinarian but having a variety of pets while being an artist and art professor was a much better idea!