Amy Peters Wood American Artist

Growing up in Sherborn, Massachusetts, Wood was taught by her mother, a former art teacher. She graduated from Milton Academy and received an early emersion in a painting after the art department gave her a private studio and personal guidance on the high school campus. She had her first painting commission at age twelve for one hundred dollars. With an artistic path clearly in front of her, Wood challenged her advisors by declining scholarships to art schools, and choosing a career direction in science. Despite mathematical learning disabilities, Wood studied both zoology, physics and art at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Mills College in Oakland, California. To prepare for all possible outcomes, Wood focused on Scientific Illustration while attending extracurricular classes at The Rhode Island school of Design, Maine College of Art, and Decordova museum school.

Wood was accepted into one of the first graduating classes at Tufts Veterinary School, before completing her undergraduate degrees, and with a DVM degree, moved to midcoast Maine. While visiting her family, during Christmas of 1986 an arsonist burned her house killing her pets and destroying a large body of early art work. Despite this setback she stayed in Midcoast Maine working in private practice and providing care for injured wildlife, for over thirty years.
In 1996 Wood married Philip Shelton and moved to Georgetown Maine. She began working full time on art and with her husband built a 42 foot gaff rigged sailboat at their farm, which they launched in 2000. They completed a global circumnavigation and were the first adopters of internet blogging, with their website worldvoyagers.com. Upon their return in 2003, they had over one hundred thousand followers.

In 2008 Wood was awarded a bronze medal by the Independent Publisher book Awards, a gold medal Next Generation Indie award and a first place "Do it Yourself book award," for her book "World Voyagers the True Story of a Veterinarian, a Renaissance Man and Stewart the Cat," which she wrote, designed and published in 2007.

Wood’s art started to shift away from realism after the near loss of a close family member.

"We see what our brains want us to see, and a multiplicity of experiences and biases will contort our shared universal vision, creating inaccuracies in memories, allowing us to conjure images that can bend, twist and display confusion in details and perspective.”

Completely retired from Veterinary work and now painting full time, Wood lives with her husband Philip Shelton and Alice the cat in both Northern Florida and Maine. She also spends time flying in Iwalani2, the amphibious float plane built by her husband with his son Nathaniel.

She donates fifty percent of the profits from her art, to environmental causes and organizations mitigating climate change and preserving wildlife corridors.


HOME PROSE STATEMENT CV GALLERIES CONTACT LINKS	Growing up in Sherborn, Massachusetts, Wood was taught by her mother, a former art teacher. She graduated from Milton Academy and received an early emersion in a painting after the art department gave her a private studio and personal guidance on the high school campus. She had her first painting commission at age twelve for one hundred dollars. With an artistic path clearly in front of her, Wood challenged her advisors by declining scholarships to art schools, and choosing a career direction in science. Despite mathematical learning disabilities, Wood studied both zoology, physics and art at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Mills College in Oakland, California. To prepare for all possible outcomes, Wood focused on Scientific Illustration while attending extracurricular classes at The Rhode Island school of Design, Maine College of Art, and Decordova museum school. Wood was accepted into one of the first graduating classes at Tufts Veterinary School, before completing her undergraduate degrees, and with a DVM degree, moved to midcoast Maine. While visiting her family, during Christmas of 1986 an arsonist burned her house killing her pets and destroying a large body of early art work. Despite this setback she stayed in Midcoast Maine working in private practice and providing care for injured wildlife, for over thirty years. In 1996 Wood married Philip Shelton and moved to Georgetown Maine. She began working full time on art and with her husband built a 42 foot gaff rigged sailboat at their farm, which they launched in 2000. They completed a global circumnavigation and were the first adopters of internet blogging, with their website worldvoyagers.com. Upon their return in 2003, they had over one hundred thousand followers. In 2008 Wood was awarded a bronze medal by the Independent Publisher book Awards, a gold medal Next Generation Indie award and a first place "Do it Yourself book award," for her book "World Voyagers the True Story of a Veterinarian, a Renaissance Man and Stewart the Cat," which she wrote, designed and published in 2007. Wood’s art started to shift away from realism after the near loss of a close family member. "We see what our brains want us to see, and a multiplicity of experiences and biases will contort our shared universal vision, creating inaccuracies in memories, allowing us to conjure images that can bend, twist and display confusion in details and perspective.” Completely retired from Veterinary work and now painting full time, Wood lives with her husband Philip Shelton and Alice the cat in both Northern Florida and Maine. She also spends time flying in Iwalani2, the amphibious float plane built by her husband with his son Nathaniel. She donates fifty percent of the profits from her art, to environmental causes and organizations mitigating climate change and preserving wildlife corridors.