We first met Amy back in 2024, when she had the idea to design her own shoe with us. Prior to our meeting, we didn't realize that she was an artist, a photographer, and we were blown away by her photos when we sat down with her. We all began imagining what it could look like to share her art in shoe form, and Amy's vision started to take shape. Amy's art is inspired by her profession; her photography centers around images taken from her microscope. Beauty captured in an unexpected place. The image on Amy's shoe is of a piece of gauze under her scope - it was one of the photos that enthralled us the most, and its simplicity, presented in this way, is captivating.
In Amy's words, "Our work together initially for me was trying to share an image from my scope...an image that is abstract and artful...in the hopes of sharing such from my work world when most of the images from my scope are not pleasant. The events of Helene were uncontrollable and created chaos for you all and others. This notion of being out of control, devastation, loss, chaos....all that rings true to my work world of diagnoses of cancer or illness. So Soleful Path™ is my attempt to find beauty and hope among such. We all need hope and I would argue we all need art. Our collaboration has given me hope to share our art in a mindful and respectful way. To take an abstract image of gauze on a microscope slide (something that was not even supposed to be on a slide but was carried over from lab procedures), an unexpected source of abstract beauty, a distraction from the chaos...a symbol of hope that our path can be nurtured by art."
The road to creating Amy's shoe was long, because it was interrupted by Helene, and we are so happy to finally present the finished product. The photo is printed on suede (hides and printing by Opera Tannery) with matching suede accents on the toe and collar. The circle is stitched with red thread, paying homage to Amy's red string bracelet. "In Red String Theory...there are folks in our lives who share a soulful bond with us...the red string....that string may become tangled but never breaks...we always have the bond. My son wears a red string; my husband wears it in his heart since he can’t wear jewelry during surgeries. So this detail of the red speaks to our bond and the discovery of connections like our work.”
