Amy Whitaker’s coffee art is anything but a heart on a latte. Whitaker uses coffee instead of paint and commissions pieces.
Coffee. Most people know it as a drink. It comes in many forms: cappuccino, latte, mocha.
But Amy Whitaker is redefining the way people enjoy coffee in a unique way – through art.
As a child, Whitaker traveled the world for her father’s work. She was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and spent the first six years of her life there. Whitaker later attended the University of Kansas and graduated with a degree in journalism with a concentration in business communications. After settling in Oklahoma for a time, Whitaker moved to Plano six years ago to pursue a business opportunity for her husband.
Although she loved art all her life, she had never formally studied the subject before.
Whitaker began with pencil sketches. Discovering a natural talent for the medium, she started a program called Works of HeART, where she drew pictures of American soldiers for their families. While living in Oklahoma, she also sketched portraits of her oldest children’s graduating classes, sketching each student and spending time with them in the studio. Whitaker eventually began incorporating acrylics into her work, creating her “Baby Brights,” which combined pencil sketches and acrylic paintings to paint animals from Africa.
“One night I had put the kids to bed and I decided to just draw,” says Whitaker. “I hadn’t drawn in a long time and I got out some pencils and had a glass of wine. And I was sitting there at the kitchen table and I was just drawing and suddenly I thought, ‘Wow, this actually looks a little bit like the person I want to draw. This is fantastic.’ So I really enjoyed pencil drawing and I just liked the simplicity of it. I didn’t know anything about colors and blending and all that. So I just stuck with pencils for a while.”
But the question remains: How did Whitaker come up with the idea of using coffee as an artistic medium?
“One day my daughter came home from school and had an artist over who was actually doing pen and ink drawings that he then splashed with coffee,” says Whitaker. “She said, ‘You can paint with coffee, too.’ And I said, ‘I don’t think so.’ She showed us, so I said, ‘Well, let’s get some watercolor paper and just try it.’ We had all the materials we needed. I had a fresh pot of coffee in the kitchen and we sat down. The kids probably stayed with me for 30 minutes, but four hours later I’m still sitting at the table painting and saying, ‘This is incredible.'”
Whitaker uses instant coffee with water to paint her creations. Occasionally, people will bring Whitaker coffee from other countries when she travels, which she uses to paint. By mixing more water with coffee or layering the coffee, Whitaker is able to add more dimension to her works. As she explores this new medium, she continues to learn more about coffee art.
“One person came by and just said, ‘That’s a lot of brown paint,'” says Whitaker. “I’m always fascinated by people who are drawn to the African animals I paint, because I feel like there’s something really unique and special about these wild creatures, even if they’ve never been to Africa or don’t have a real story. I’ve heard people say, ‘Can I smell?’ I think people are just kind of fascinated by it.”
Whitaker has a large social media presence and has nearly 24,000 followers on Instagram. Whitaker’s art can be purchased at Lekka Retail Concepts, a store that supports local artists. A member of the Plano Arts Association, Whitaker also attends various art shows and also works as a commissioned artist through Instagram or her website Art by Amy. Prices vary depending on design and size.
Despite all her various art projects, Whitaker is still learning and evolving along with her art.
“It’s really meaningful,” Whitaker says. “I love people, but I’m more of an introvert and I enjoy just staying behind the scenes. I feel kind of uncomfortable when I get a lot of praise for something like that. But I’m getting better and learning to just embrace it and enjoy it.”
Whitaker’s next event is an arts festival on September 28 at the Shops of Willow Bend from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Whitaker is also preparing to offer coffee painting classes at Local Good Coffee in Central Plano.
