Meet The Artist
*
Meet The Artist *
Amy Lewis Sweetman
of
AGRISCULPTURE
WHS Executive Director, Christopher Sloan, had the opportunity to meet with Amy Lewis Sweetman, a talented artist whose work is now featured and for purchase at The 1810 Store. Amy’s one-of-a-kind, handcrafted candlesticks, created from repurposed vintage farm equipment, are a perfect fit for the store, reflecting Warwick’s agricultural heritage and the beauty of sustainability.
Amy’s stunning candlesticks are made from antique disc harrows, a tribute to the farming traditions that have shaped the region. Through her creative initiative, AGRISCULPTURE, Amy transforms abandoned farm equipment into functional art, blending history with modern design. The Warwick Historical Society is proud to showcase her remarkable creations, which celebrate the deep connection between agriculture and artistry.
CHRISTOPHER: Your candlesticks in The 1810 Store are crafted from a variety of antique disc harrows. Can you tell us a bit about the process of creating art from this piece of farming history?
AMY: The disc harrow is amongst my favorite agricultural implements because its forms are so functional in a variety of ways. The very first AGRISCULPTURE Candlestick Collection showed itself to me when deep within the process of creating my first “metal fountain.” To create the first AGRISCULPTURE for Cornell Cooperative Extension, I needed to locate exactly 22 disc blades. I quickly learned by calling farm repair shops that farm repair shops didn’t have disc blades, and I needed to source them from farms. I also quickly learned that most farmers either used or scrapped their single disc blades, and it became clear that buying an entire disc harrow to take apart was the answer. The first disc harrow I acquired was from John Wright of the Wright Family Farm in Warwick, who just happened to have, buried in the weeds behind his barn, an 18-piece disc harrow from the 1950s. This implement weighed hundreds and hundreds of pounds and certainly did not fit within the back of my Jeep. Very kindly, John offered to torch it apart for me so all the pieces could therefore fit into my vehicle. Observing John torch the disc harrow in just the right places, I learned that not only did this implement have discs, but it also had a frame and fascinating disc spacers. As soon as the first disc spacer hit the Earth – smoking hot – I saw something other than what it had previously been. I saw – a candlestick! The shape and scale of these beautiful “extra” parts – in my mind – could become a collection of candlesticks, and that’s exactly what happened. The very first collection of AGRISCULPTURE Candlesticks made their debut at my first installation at the Warwick Valley Farmers’ Market in 2013, and the entire collection was bought by a local who proudly displayed them within her historic Bellvale Farmhouse.
Inspired by John Wright’s disassemblage on his farm, I have since learned how to master an oxy-acetylene torch and do all my own work, thanks to the Welding Course I took at Orange Ulster BOCES in 2013-2014 through the encouragement of Warwick based Farmer-Welder Douglas Sweetman… who… long story short… had the last three disc blades I needed (after acquiring disc 19 at Penn-Octo Farm in Warwick), became the welder of my first trio of “metal fountains” for the Cornell Cooperative Extension then the Love of my Life, and four years later - my Husband.
In a nutshell - I source whole antique disc harrows from local farms, flatbed them to my Studio on the Sweetman Dairy Farm of Warwick where AGRISCULPTURE Studios is located, torch them apart, transform their rusty surfaces into gleaming butter-soft and shiny metals, pair them with wax candles – and voila – AGRISCULPTURE Candlestick Collections. Each Collection is sourced from a single disc harrow and the edition numbers vary. Due to the antique and found nature of these Candlestick Collections, no two are ever alike. Each and every Candlestick is also unique in the sense that, having been pulled through fields behind tractors for decades – each disc spacer met the landscape of earth and rock differently, wearing therefore differently. The Earth first sculpts these pieces, then I complete the work.
An example of a vintage “disc harrow.”
Amy’s candlesticks currently on display, and for purchase, at The 1810 Store - 80 Main Street in Warwick, NY.
“Seek to have not only new eyes – but a new heart. Then one will see beauty – and potential – everywhere.” Amy Lewis Sweetman
CHRISTOPHER: Farming and agriculture are central to Warwick’s heritage. How does your work celebrate and preserve that history?
AMY: I’ve always loved Warwick. As an internationally renowned artist with works in America, Europe, Asia, Australia and the South Pacific, I always make time for my now-hometown… I’ve even been called “Warwick’s Youngest Philanthropist.”
Growing up, I learned to ski here at Mt. Peter with my family and Austrian Alps skiing neighbor-teacher when I was nine, and when attending Cornwall Central High School, I skied Mt. Peter competitively for three years while on the Ski Team. As Captain of Cornwall’s Varsity Tennis Team, I led our girls in playing the Warwick Wildcats among other schools’ teams.
One of my favorite things about coming to Warwick since childhood was always the farmland. It was so open and beautiful. The Town of Warwick has taken such care to preserve this farmland that I’ve loved all my life, and it’s not lost on me that I came to live with my Husband on the first preserved farm of Warwick – the Sweetman Dairy Farm – preserved by his brother Tunis Sweetman in 1991.
It is no surprise that the seal of the Town of Warwick, incorporated in 1789 and almost as old as the United States of America itself, is half agriculturally based, with an onion and a cow in two of its four quadrants.
Warwick celebrates and preserves its farmland. I celebrate and preserve Warwick’s Farming History by locating and saving the antique farm implements of Warwick’s farms (among others) from the scrap yard, rescuing them from the forgotten corners of both time and space then transforming them into beautiful and often functional works of art. This transformation causes curiosity in people – inviting them to view Warwick’s farm heritage in a whole new way – engaging with the metal pieces of history which fed our grandparents and asking my favorite question… “What WAS that?”
CHRISTOPHER: Living and working on the Sweetman Dairy Farm, how does farm life inspire your art and creative process?
AMY: Dairy Farmers are insanely tough. They are their own breed. I say this with true admiration and awe. There are no weekends, sick days, days off, nor Holidays which don’t see cows milked twice a day- no matter the weather and temperature. When things break, Dairy Farmers fix them. When things go wrong, Dairy Farmers find a solution. With few exceptions, there is nobody to call for help, as Dairy Farmers must needs be jacks of all trades – with cows, crops, field work, machines, manure, everything.
I’ve been highly influenced by the Sweetmans’ ability to work outside in all elements, as well as by their unwavering tenacity, ingenious problem solving and self-reliance.
My Husband is working outside on a welding project or in a field on the surrounding 800 acres… and I am working outside at AGRISCULPTURE Studios. It’s what a Dairy Farmer would do. It’s what makes AGRISCULPTURE works authentic.
I must also say, on days when a farm implement breaks beyond Doug and Tunis’s desire to repair it, I am exceedingly excited. I then receive thrilling new material for future AGRISCULPTURE works. It’s a beautiful cycle – it’s the cycle of death and life.
“I’ve been highly influenced by the Sweetmans’ ability to work outside in all elements, as well as by their unwavering tenacity, ingenious problem solving and self-reliance.” Amy Lewis Sweetman. Pictures of Sweetman Farm.
AMY: I love hosting my signature Nature:Arts Workshops for youth, Intro to Welding Workshops for adults and Nature Journaling Workshops for groups of all ages.
The most rewarding part of conducting workshops and sharing my passion with the community is the transmission of knowledge and therefore energy. Energy follows thought. If you can teach a creative thought process of environmental awareness and artistic skills then you can form seeds for future actions of others – and therefore you can literally shape and positively change the world.
CHRISTOPHER: You often conduct workshops on adaptive reuse and creativity. What is the most rewarding part of sharing your passion with others?
CHRISTOPHER: You transform abandoned farm equipment into stunning works of art. What is it about these materials that resonate with you creatively?
AMY: Abandoned Farm Equipment speaks to me. It has a history. It literally has the vibrations of its past, the farmers, the fields, the weather – embedded into it - and each wavelength has a story to tell. I love the design opportunity/challenge of answering a new commission within the context of antique farm implements combined with new steel. Functional forms from the agrarian past absolutely inform my creative forms of the future – and finding the right combination is truly exhilarating. With every project, there is a treasure hunt, a process of discovery, a moment of invention – it keeps me fresh – it gives my powerful brain and hands purpose. I absolutely love solving “problems” through innovative design.
CHRISTOPHER: What inspired you to create AGRISCULPTURE, and how did your background in architecture influence this journey?
AMY: This is a very long story – which actually may be made into a film one of these days - but for now I’ll be brief. “AGRISCULPTURE : Farm Equipment – Lovingly Rethought” or AGRISCULPTURE for short, came to me as a long range vision when I received a commission for a “metal fountain” through my first design practice called Architectural Stylist. One could say this story begins at Cornell University, where I graduated a 5-year program with a professional Bachelor of Architecture and Concentration in Architectural Theory during 2008. I received the highest grade (A+) that year in my Graduating Class for my Thesis entitled “Dogpatch Maritime Working Museum” located in San Francisco, CA. During that 5th Thesis Year, I had been thinking I’d move to San Francisco after Graduation and pursue making this Thesis Project a reality with the City of San Francisco, as had been highly suggested by my Thesis Advisors at Cornell. However, there arose an offer so alluring that I couldn’t resist, which took my life in a totally different direction (East as opposed to West).
As the first in my Graduating Class to receive a job offer, which I accepted, I moved to Dubai, United Arab Emirates to work for an international architectural firm called Burt Hill. Within a short time, I became the youngest female Project Coordinator within the global firm, managing a team of 20, designing the Royal Hospital of Abu Dhabi for the Royal Family and Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the ruler of Abu Dhabi and the second President of the UAE. I found this project to be very meaningful and enjoyable… yet it did not last. With the world economic downturn of 2008, my position in the Glittering Cities of the East lasted into 2009 when the Dubai Office of Burt Hill was shut down for economic reasons. After doing some traveling and exploring a job offer in Beirut, Lebanon through the American University of Beirut, I decided to move back to the United States of America, and took up an offer by some Cornell friends in Los Angeles to work as a Freelance Production Designer for Graduate Student films at USC and UCLA. As they put it, if you can design Architecture, you can design/build Film Sets. I found this to be true, yet rather unfulfilling, as film sets were all about the camera lens and not about true in-person human experience.
In the Spring of 2010, I received another offer which again pointed my life in a different direction. What began as a commission to create a “Mutant Vehicle” for new clients wanting to attend Burning Man morphed into an inspiration for me to apply to Burning Man with my very first solo art installation. DESERTROPOLIS, as I called it, not only got accepted by Burning Man as an art installation, but it also became the subject of a documentary film created by NHK Japan, who called my work “the best art installation at Burning Man 2010 created by a new artist.” I created 10 (yet only installed 6) Arabian-inspired “Bastikiya” or passive cooling towers. Drawing from ancient Arabic intelligence, I carved spaces for the people of Burning Man to rest comfortably in the 100+ degree Summer High Desert heat without the use of electricity. These towers were made of sustainable bamboo and fabric, and were highly successful in that they were always occupied for the entirety of the festival. NHK’s documentary was aired on Channel 1 all across Japan on September 27, 2010 and today you may view it on www.agrisculpture.com/films.
DESERTROPOLIS linked my professional architecture experience in Dubai, my architecture degree from Cornell, my architectural internships at the Cape Cod based design-build firm Polhemus Savery DaSilva as well as Manhattan based Sciame Construction - in real-time within the high desert of Nevada, and I was hooked. Working with my hands outside in Nature to design and create architectural-sculptural interventions based on complex world histories and sustainable design strategies truly inspired and motivated me. I wanted more!
Back in LA, post Burning Man, I could still taste the freedom of the playa, and it became clear that I needed to form my own design practice. The following year, in July 2011, I did just that – creating and launching “Architectural Stylist : Live Your Dream-Space.” Architectural Stylist (for short) debuted as a website with only four pages and a concept – “live your dream-space.” The idea was simple yet profound – I could positively transform any client’s space, inside or out, through the use of architectural-sculptural intervention.
Interestingly, Architectural Stylist actually took off on the East Coast during a visit back to my hometown of Cornwall, NY. My parents had been telling their friends about my new company – and the projects started flowing in. They were very modest at first, like supporting clients picking paint colors etc., but then “the big one” came in – and the Cornell University Cooperative Extension of Sullivan County, NY asked me to create a “metal fountain” for the exterior of their building’s Main Entrance.
Knowing that the Cornell Cooperative Extension serves Farmers as well as Soil and Water agencies among other entities, I sought a medium for this “metal fountain” which was durable, appropriate and also very cool. It occurred to me that repurposed farm equipment could be just that media – and boom – before proposing my “metal fountain” design to CCE, I made sure that the name I envisioned was available as a business name, a .com website as well as a Trademark-able entity within the United States Patent and Trademark Office… and thus… in the Spring of 2012, AGRISCULPTURE was born.
“Fountains of Wonderland” at Orange County Arts Council’s 2023 gala.
“AGRISCULPTURE Fountain Trio”. Upstate Art Weekend 2024. Goshen Green Farm.
CHRISTOPHER: Your first major commission involved disc harrow fountains for Cornell Cooperative Extension. How did that project shape your artistic path?
AMY: The process of creating “GROW Agrisculpture : Harrow Discs – Lovingly Rethought” or GROW for short, taught me so many lessons. GROW was my first real adventure into welded work and my first real adventure into water features. It simultaneously taught me how much I knew and how much I did not know about such things. It unified for the first time in my personal work, the four elements – namely fire, earth, air and water. GROW shaped my personal artistic growth as Founder of a new type of architectural-agricultural-environmental-art by illuminating a new trail on my artistic path, a new type of working environment through creating my physical AGRISCULPTURE Studio on a Dairy Farm and also a new Love – which turned into my beloved Husband Douglas Sweetman. Unforgettable.
A span of approximately thirteen years has brought me from a commission for a metal fountain to a project I’ve been working on for the past two years and counting - designing a 10 acre park within a former Warwick prison that I named Transformation Trails – to my latest invitation – designing an entry for an architectural-artistic intervention at The 2025 United States Pavilion at the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale in Venice, Italy.
CHRISTOPHER: What role do sustainability and environmental awareness play in your artistic philosophy?
AMY: My favorite Architects of all time would have to be Samuel Mockbee, who co-founded Auburn University’s Rural Studio program in Hale County, Alabama and Michael Reynolds who created and founded both the concept and the building typology of Earthship in Taos, New Mexico.
Mockbee’s and Reynolds’s architectural philosophies are simple and profound. In my own words – they serve humanity to make a better world through the use of recycled materials and natural materials. Both architects used repurposed materials from dumps to design and build homes in rural areas for underserved populations, and they also taught their students/future inhabitants how to notice and think about the environment, along with the skills needed to transform junk into architecture.
The Lucy House in Mason’s Bend, Alabama by Rural Studio has insulated walls made from 172,000 individually stacked reclaimed carpet tiles. A small Earthship home, based on Reynold’s designs, boasts about 500 used rubber vehicle tires to create the walls for this passive solar house.
Along the same lines, the entirety of my AGRISCULPTURE Studios is constructed from recycled materials, including a shipping container I picked out from the Port of Newark, greenhouse hoops my Husband acquired in Warwick, steel posts from a (de)construction site in New Jersey and leftover Dairy Barn roofing material.
I create the vast majority of AGRISCULPTURE works with antique found farm implements/machines. I was asked to mentor Student Isabella Pizza from Warwick High School’s Senior Project Class on the topic of Environmental Awareness and Welding during the 2022-2023 school year, and she earned the Class’s only Excellence Award for her project entitled ELEMENTS which you can view on permanent display at the Seligman Center in Sugar Loaf, NY.
Both in practice and in teaching, one could say that sustainability and environmental awareness are in my bones.
Amy - creating “The Healing Stage” on the farm at AGRISCULPTURE Studios for her commission to be installed at Garnet Health of Middletown, NY.
The finished product… “The Healing Stage” at Garnet Health, installed November 2018.
CHRISTOPHER: The AGRISCULPTURE pieces blend industrial and organic forms beautifully. How do you strike a balance between functionality and artistic expression in your designs?
AMY: I have a true desire to serve my clients and community through innovative design and adaptive reuse in order to better the world (thanks Samuel and Michael). With knowledge and experience comes this balance of form, function and artistic expression, and in it lies the magic of my architect-artist-ness. AI will never ever be able to touch this. My creativity is a gift. No form of artificial intelligence has a human heart or communion with a divine spirit.
Amy’s candlesticks are on display and for purchase at The 1810 Store, 80 Main Street - Warwick, NY.
Amy’s work can be seen all over the Hudson Valley including the iconic “Bellvale” sign at the Bellvale Farms Creamery.
