Christy Amschler Collection

Collection

Identifier: AMSC

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Christy Amschler’s personal papers include her journals, notes on her health, affirmations, gratitudes, as well as clippings of art and articles that stemmed from her life devoted to art, astrology, spirituality, and feminism. This also includes a large amount of personal photographs from time spent with family, friends, and her partner.

Christy’s academic papers consist of extensive class notes from her college coursework, as well as notes from professional development meetings geared towards artists and creative business owners. This series also covers academic correspondence from programs and grants she applied to, her academic writing ranging from high school to higher education, and her CV and work samples.

Reference books and media are materials that influenced Christy’s life and art, such as books, clippings, and photos of other art.

Christy’s artwork consists of photography prints, drawings, sketchbooks, photos, and 35mm slides of Christy’s paintings and reference artwork.

Content Warning: Among the reference materials there is a VHS tape depicting cultural appropriation of indigenous beliefs that may be harmful and racist in nature. The processing archivists chose to include this content as it marks the social context of appropriation in fields of wellness and holistic medicine, which impacted Christy Amschler’s life and work as a white woman. There is a second content warning in the box contents list next to the item. The Mazer welcomes an ongoing dialog with our community about generative ways to process and describe materials that contain or reflect systemic violence. We encourage you to contact the Mazer if other harmful content is found in this collection and/or to further this dialog. You can reach us at contact@mazerlesbianarchives.org.

Dates

Creation: 1988-2017

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open to researchers. There are no restrictions on the collection.

Conditions Governing Use

Property rights to the physical objects belong to the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or heir for permission to publish where the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives do not hold the copyright.

Biographical / Historical

Christy Amschler was born on March 20, 1970 the only child of Jim and Judy Amschler. She began drawing at age 14. Christy continued to pursue drawing, as well as painting and photography professionally. Her education in this field began at the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI in 1987; then Syracuse University’s six-week art history course in France and the Netherlands in 1990; the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, Boston, MA in 1992; the Graduate School of Figurative Art at the New York Academy of Art, New York, NY from 1992 to 1993; the Bougie Studio, Minneapolis, MN from 1993 to 1996; and Frank Covino Workshop in 1999. Amschler’s work was shown in galleries across Boston, New York, and Connecticut, and resides in private collections in Connecticut, London, Bermuda, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C. She was a member of the Women’s Caucus for Art, the American Society of Classical Realism, and the Hudson Valley Art Association. Her studios were in Belmont, MA, St. Louis Park, MN, and eventually Los Angeles, CA.

Amschler described the art she created as about a, “wholeness and sacredness,” inspired by, “a concern for the environment, animals, the speed and direction of technological growth, women’s spirituality, feminism, and nature.” Amschler was deeply invested in alternative forms of healing, women’s spirituality, and astrology. In 2000 she attended the California Institute of Integral Studies, a college in San Francisco dedicated to multiple ways of knowing, spirituality, and service to communities that expands traditional degree programs. It was there that Christy received her Master’s in Women’s Spirituality, Religion, and Philosophy.

She then opened her own business in Los Angeles, GoddessStar Astrology and GoddessStar Studios, where she designed jewelry, worked as a Vedic astrologer, and created paintings based on her client’s horoscope charts.

Christy was a feminist lesbian who turned to alternative medicine and homeopathic methods of healing after facing challenges in the healthcare system. In the later years of her life she was diagnosed with uterine cancer. This cancer spread, and eventually led to her death on August 21, 2017.

Christy had a partner named Laura Strong who appears in many photos in this collection. They lived together in St. Louis Park, MN, though it is uncertain how long they were together.

Sources: “Christy Amschler’s curriculum vitae,” [2000]. The Christy Amschler Collection. June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives.

“Christy Amschler’s curriculum vitae,” [2000]

Capone, Giovanna. “Christy Amschler, 1970-2017 [Obituary],” 2017. The Christy Amschler Collection. June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives.

Extent

6.17 Linear Feet (10 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Christy Amschler (1970-2017) was a lesbian, a feminist, dedicated artist, astrologer, and photographer. She received formal training in painting and drawing, before going on to continue her education in women’s spirituality, religion, and philosophy. These materials include many of her drawings, photography, 35mm photo slides of her finished paintings, and papers from her academic pursuits of painting and spirituality; as well as personal photographs of her family and friends, journals, and notes.

Arrangement

Series I: Personal Papers

Series II: Academic Papers

Series III: Reference Books and Media

Series IV: Artwork

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This collection was donated to the Mazer Archives in 2018 by Giovanna S. Capone who Christy knew from the Bay Area Sicilian Italian Lesbian (BASIL) organization.