Prominent artist Amie dies at 49

Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2002 | 9:28 a.m.

Ronald Terry "Ron" Amie, a Las Vegas artist who combined Rembrandt's dark environments with the bright colors of 1970s pop art, has died. He was 49.

Amie, who for the past 20 years has been a major Los Angeles commercial graphics artist, died Sunday after a battle with cancer at the Reche Canyon Rehab Hospital in California. He was a Las Vegas resident from 1953 to 1981 and a resident of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., for the past 11 years.

Services for Amie, who continued to return to Clark County schools to talk to disadvantaged youths, will be 11 a.m. Saturday at Zion Methodist Church, 2108 Revere St. Visitation will be Friday at Palm Mortuary at a time to be announced. Burial will be in Palm Memorial Gardens.

"He had a gift of vision -- a young man who lived for the sake of helping others," said the Rev. Marion Bennett, who has known Amie since he was 9 years old and will preside over the services. "He was so talented and so dedicated to his art."

Cranford Crawford, a retired Family Youth Services employee, said Amie as a young artist would visit the juvenile court and encourage troubled youths to overcome their problems and live their dreams.

"He was just so likeable and easy to talk to," Crawford said.

Amie burst on to the local art scene in 1978 as a 24-year-old painter determined to change the direction of what was then called Afro-American art, which was dominated by depictions of African tribesmen.

Amie's 10-painting exhibit at the West Las Vegas Library, titled "The Americanization of Blacks," depicted combined images of endearing black heroes, "foxy mamas" and the disturbing culture of hypodermic needles, alcohol and menacing drug nightmares.

"We are Americans, not Africans," Amie said in 1978. "Africa is just another far-off country as far as American blacks are concerned."

He strove to shake the label of "black artist," noting in a 1981 Sun story: "Black artists can paint seascapes and landscapes as well as a white artist. There's really no black artist, because he is no different than his white counterpart."

Amie worked in pencil, ink, watercolor, oils, airbrush and computer graphics, among other media.

Born Aug. 29, 1953, in Las Vegas, Amie graduated from Clark High School, then went to work for the city of Las Vegas as a sign painter. With his talent, he soon was working in the engineering department sketching designs.

In the fall of 1977 Amie unveiled his first major oil work that utilized his study of Rembrandt and the influence of pop art culture. Entitled "The 1977 Las Vegas City Commission," it included images of then-mayor Bill Briare and Councilman Ron Lurie. The painting went on display at City Hall.

At that time Amie also was working on a series of desert landscapes that utilized bright reds, yellows and oranges. He said those hues best represented Las Vegas' hot climate.

After spending three years at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where his works were displayed at the Moyer Student Union building, Amie moved to Los Angeles and graduated from the UCLA School of Graphic Design.

Throughout the 1980s and '90s he was in demand by a number of major companies to design logos and to do the art for advertising campaigns. But he also continued his non-commercial work, including a recent series of paintings of tropical birds.

Amie is survived by his wife of 26 years, Kathy Watkins Amie of Rancho Cucamonga; a son, Ronald Scott Amie, a senior at UNLV; a daughter, Angel Kimberly Amie, who is in the Navy and stationed in Puerto Rico; his parents, Curtis Amie and Ruby Amie of Las Vegas; four brothers, Willie Herb Amie, Michael Amie and Torrance Amie, all of Las Vegas, and Curtis Amie of Marshall, Texas; and a sister, Gwen Amie of Las Vegas. He was preceded in death by a brother, Rufus Amie.