Bio

Amber McElreath is an Akron-based assemblage and collage artist who uses found objects in her work to tell autobiographical stories in a surrealistic style. Most of the work is very small which is meant to convey intimacy and vulnerability. Her two inspirations are Frida Kahlo and Joseph Cornell.

Amber got her BFA in Painting from Kent State University and graduated with her MAs in Art Therapy and Counseling from Ursuline College. In 2025, Amber’s work was in the Quest For the Fest show at Spaces gallery and went on to be in the Ingenuity Festival. Her most recent solo exhibition, Future Tripping and Backward Wandering (2024), was at the Sally Otto Gallery. Delivering Stores with work from Amber and Karen Koch was in 2017 at the Box Gallery in Summit Artspace. In 2023, she participated in the Infinite Mix the YARDS Projects, in Cleveland. In 2024, she was in a two-person exhibition with Annie Becker at Gallery 202 in 78th St. Studios. Later that year, she was in the July exhibit at 934 Gallery in Columbus, OH. Her work is in public/private collections in Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New York, Georgia, Washington, and Maryland.

Amber is a Licensed Professional Art Therapist, Registered/Board-Certified Art Therapist, and the Intern Coordinator at the Art Therapy Studio. She belongs to the Artist Archives of the Western Reserve, Artists of Rubber City, and Akron Soul Train.