Artist of the Month: Amy Flynn, Mixed Media "Fobots"

Artists who are challenged by the economy these days will find great hope in the story of this month's Featured Artist.

Amy Flynn has had a successful career as a professional illustrator since college, working for a variety of greeting card, paper, children's book publishers and gift companies.Then the recession hit, clients stopped paying and suddenly the concept of a "starving artist" hit home....not any more!

"In the past 18 months, Flynn, 49, has gone from underemployed illustrator to successful creator of unique robot sculptures. Except for a few nuts and bolts, the 10- to 20-inch-tall creatures are fully made from her vintage findings at flea markets, yard sales ...The "Fobots," as she calls the found-object robots, are artistic, humorous and totally endearing," reports Diane Daniel in the Raleigh News-Observer.

"In Raleigh, she's world famous!" As a result of her work appearing in the Anthropologie catalog Amy Flynn's work had a cameo role on the March 10th episode of "Ugly Betty!" This means she is the "favorite daughter" in her home town of Raleigh, NC, and was featured in a news story there last weekend.

Amy applied for her first art fair a year ago. The uniqueness of her creations has landed her in the nation's best art fairs, notably this month's Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival, March 19-21, in Winter Park, Florida.

The Fobots (found object robots) are taking the art fair world by storm! Read Amy's amazing story: ArtFairCalendar.com/featuredartist

(Amy and her husband Phil Crone are both members of Art Fair Insiders. They have shared their story with us on this site and we look forward to hearing the rest of it!)