Sun City resident Amy Rohr celebrated her 95th birthday on September 23.
Many Sun City residents know her from her beautiful sculptures that have been displayed outside the ClayGround studio. She also was a golfer until a few years ago.
Rohr said, “When we first walked down the hallway of the Prairie Lodge and saw all the activities, my husband, Charles, said ‘Amy is going to be a very busy bee here.’”
95-year-old Amy Rohr started her artistic endeavors as a cake decorator. Years later, she applied those same skills to sculpting and produces beautiful pieces that can be seen in Prairie Lodge. (Photos by Christine Such/My Sun Day News)
And she is.
Rohr began sculpting by forming gum-based cake figures. She was bitten by the cake-decorating bug when she started working at Wilton.
Rohr said, “One of my neighbors at the time talked me into working for Wilton. I had no experience in cake decorating. They put in a series of classes, some taught by the children of the Wilton family. I worked there for fifteen years.”
Cake designers are the artisans behind beautiful cake creations. Cake decorating can go beyond the simple art of dressing up a cake. This craft, mastered and perfected, is an art form.
Rohr said, “I progressed until I was teaching the advanced classes. I was making gum-based figurines on the cakes, and flowers. My techniques and work were in several books that Wilton put out.”
In The Wilton Way of Cake Decorating, Volume 2, Rohr is recognized for her artistic gift, “Amy Rohr is a veteran decorator of the Wilton Book Division Staff and a skilled practitioner in all forms of decorating. Many of the cakes in this book were decorated by Mrs. Rohr and her touch with piped and gum paste flowers are outstanding.”
What was Rohr’s favorite cake?
Rohr said, “I made a lot of wedding cakes including ones for my family: my daughter’s wedding. But my favorite was the one I made for my nephew. It had a beveled edge with three layers. I successfully traveled to Traverse City, Michigan with the cake for the wedding reception.”
Years later, another neighbor in Sun City convinced Rohr to try clay sculpting. Rohr said, “I just didn’t think I would be good at it. But I found encouragement and guidance from an artist in the ClayGround group, Richard Christie. He has an eye for proportion and taught me to notice those significant measurements in creating a figure. For example, the size of the hand compared to the head.”
Rohr has sculpted Native Americans, cowboys with boots and hats, a dolphin riding a wave, farm boys, girls with bouquets of flowers, a replica of the Lincoln Memorial, and so much more.
What is her favorite piece?
Rohr said, “I would say the Chinese Elegant Woman holding a Fan.”
Rohr’s grandson has requested a sculpture of a cowboy, and Rohr has sculpted a family dog. “A lot of my family and friends have my pieces.”
To complete all the requests for figures, Rohr goes to the studio every week and takes advantage of the open studio time to work on her craft.
