Amy Putansu was born and raised in the northern fishing village of Clark Island, Maine. The heritage of the name Putaansuu is Finnish, originating from the town of Siikajoki. Her great-grandfather immigrated to the United States to work in the granite quarries of Maine. Her family has not moved far—geographically or socioeconomically—and Amy’s childhood along the rocky coast shaped her sense of place, culture, and way of being in the world: a sparseness of landscape, a seafaring language, and an ethic of manual work. Her first memory of fiber is of her father knitting heads for lobster traps.
Amy was the first in her family to attend a four-year college, an experience that set the course for the next thirty years. After earning her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, she has continued to work with textiles and weaving. She received high praise for her wearable work from the American Craft Council and from collectors such as Martha Stewart and Jack Lenor Larsen. Before the age of thirty, her work was acquired by the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery.
In 2008, Amy became a full-time teacher of weaving and dyeing in rural western North Carolina. She continues her studio practice, having shifted from wearable pieces to wall art. She has received continued recognition from experts in the field, including Carol Sauvion, creator of the PBS series Craft in America. In 2015, her large ondulé panel Diptych was acquired by the National Silk Museum of China, following its exhibition in Hangzhou and Foshan, with special gratitude to Yoshiko Wada, who introduced Amy to the region.