Instilled with a love for music by her father, a piano-playing bandleader and wheat farmer who persevered through the Great Depression, jazz comprises a great part of Amie’s cache for artistic expression. During graduate school, Amie was the vocalist and trumpet player for her Chicago-based jazz band. As a mother, Amie gingerly engendered an appreciation for jazz music in her son Kjeld, who went on to become a nationally-recognized jazz musician by his junior year in high school. His departure from home to college, combined with his decision to depart from a career in music, motivated Amie to paint his instruments in this series.  Her passion for jazz continues today, translated from the treble clef to the large-scale canvas.