Arizona Artist Spotlight: Basking in nature’s glory with Amy Lizzi
Published: 08/26/2026
Meet Greater Phoenix-based artist Amy Lizzi, known for her colorful, nature-filled scenes featured in GPEC’s A New Way to See Greater Phoenix exhibit
“I believe that the secrets to life and understanding ourselves can be found within the patterns of nature,” Amy Lizzi says. “Because we are nature.”
That belief runs through everything she makes, and it’s exactly what shapes the piece she shared in GPEC’s art exhibition.
Many of her art pieces come from the desert she calls home. “It took me about 30 years of living in the Sonoran Desert to realize and appreciate how spectacularly unique and beautiful wildlife and plant life are here,” she says.
Now she calls herself a desert dreamer, basking in its glory. Her piece featured in A New Way to See Greater Phoenix, Poppies with a View, shows an eye for detail. As a field of poppies large enough to overshadow the Phoenix horizon behind is showcased on the canvas, nature takes center stage. The scene is set in the evening, with the poppies painted in the foreground as if the photographer had crouched down low just to spotlight their beauty, while ghostly buzzards drift overhead.
Her art style highlights something small and easy to overlook. Her way of looking comes from observing her surroundings and taking snapshots long before she picks up a brush. “I snap pictures when I’m out on neighborhood walks or exploring the world,” Amy says. “Then I sketch out an idea with ink and paper, and maybe that sketch will become a part of digital art or a painting.” It’s a process built on mindfulness.
This process is refined by classes she regularly takes at the Edna Vihel Arts Center in her hometown of Tempe. She says it’s a fantastic way to meet her neighbors and stay inspired. That idea of art bringing people together is exactly what she believes it does at a larger scale. Arts and culture throughout communities work like a timestamp of how people live and what they experience uniquely, in a form often more expressive than a photograph. Art connects the creator to the viewer and fosters that connection matters.
Amy describes Greater Phoenix’s art scene as vibrant, supportive and unique. That’s visible in her artwork, and these perspectives were part of the philosophy behind A New Way To City, the initiative highlighting Greater Phoenix around the country. These unique stories of the people and places of the region, amplified by the perspectives of these artists, is reinforced by Amy’s work, and Poppies with a View is a reminder for the rest of us to look a little closer to catch the distinctive elements of home.