By Anne Bennett-Ciaglia
Special to The Jupiter Courier
May 23, 2004

Photographic artist Amy Koontz Knippel had a change of heart one day after taking a canoe trip along one of Florida's most famous rivers. "There was a time I didn't think I could improve upon the nature photography already out there, until I saw the Loxahatchee River," she says.

It was there the artist discovered her creative niche that has evolved into recognition from the artistic community and a large body of award-winning artwork.

The artist's progression toward her ninth-grade goal to one day exhibit her own artwork in a gallery began after moving to Florida nine years ago. With a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York and fresh from a budding career as a photographer's assistant, Knippel realized the geographical change had brought with it some formidable career obstacles. "My first job down here I made $6.50 an hour at the mall -- and I was a really bad salesperson!"

After a few more minimum wage positions and a little networking, the Stuart News hired her on as a freelance photo journalist where she shot from five to 10 rolls of film per day, exercising her photographic limbs. She continued to pursue her own creative efforts that eventually led to a significant nod of recognition from the South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship grant in 1998-99. Her love for photographing nature, first inspired by the sight of the Loxahatchee River, significantly increased her recognition.

"The importance of nature and what these natural elements represent in every being's life is the search and preservation of all that is important," Knippel said.

To date her work has been exhibited in numerous venues, including the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale, The Cultural Courthouse in Stuart, Palm Street Art Studios in West Palm Beach and the Town of Jupiter Gallery of Art. Additionally, she received the Millennium Cultural Recognition Award in 2000 by Secretary of State Katherine Harris.

New business, new exhibit

The coming summer will include four Knippel exhibits, the first of which will be during business hours at the new office of the accounting firm of Proctor Crook & Crowder in Jupiter beginning Monday and continuing through June 7. One of the partners of the firm, Todd J. Laycock, is Knippel's brother-in-law.

Laycock said that after 20 years and growing to 50 employees in their Stuart location, the partners saw Palm Beach County as the obvious choice for expansion. In planning the opening, a natural tie-in with Knippel presented itself.

"I already had six of Amy's pieces in my offices in Stuart," Laycock said. "My partners and I wanted to tie in the opening with a local theme -- our new local firm with a local artist instead of a more typical ribbon-cutting ceremony."

The conclusion of the exhibit will include a Jupiter-Tequesta Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours cocktail party from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on June 7 that will include a raffle of one of Knippel's 8-by-10 Cibachrome photographic prints.

Into the woods

Aside from creating artwork and her full exhibit schedule, Knippel is also at the helm of www.naturalphotosafaris.com, where she guides and instructs half-day, full-day and weekend outdoor excursions. All you need is a camera, some film and an interest in photographing nature, says Knippel, who has worked with groups and individuals including those interested in developing their own photographic skills, Hobe Sound Elementary students and troubled teens sponsored by the Children's Home Society.

"One day I was out with some pretty tough kids," remembers Knippel, "and after a full day trudging around, one of the guys said, 'This is so beautiful out here,' and I thought I must really be getting through to them."

Knippel said she notes an interesting quality when working with kids. "The younger they are, usually the better they are," she says. "They haven't had time to build up any obstacles to what they see."

In additional to serving as a board member for the Arts Council, Inc. of Stuart and Martin County and the Palm Street Arts Studio in West Palm Beach, Knippel's goals now include another major project -- the birth of her first child.

"Down the road," she says, "I want to pursue more creative ways to express my artwork, but for now, the kids come first.