How Amie Krubally Came to be Known as "Queen Amie"

Amie Krubally, also know to her friends and colleagues as "Queen Amie", was born in Bakau, The Gambia. Because of family ties, which stretch to Senegal and Mali, Ms. Krubally had the opportunity to travel frequently as a child. The rich cultures of Mali, Senegal, and her own country, The Gambia, had a profound influence on her during her formative years.

Over the years, Amie developed a view of art and history that was finally brought to life when she was introduced to Batik in 1963. The state of the art, which at the time was known as "Stamp Batik", was a process where pieces of wood were carved to make patterns, which were dipped in wax and placed on fabric to make designs. The first major departure from this method in Bakau was pioneered by Amie Krubally and resulted in the expressive and painterly forms that distinguish her art from its precedents.

Amie has gained worldwide recognition for her innovation and artistry. The Gambian government granted her the title, "Queen of Batik", in recognition of her wide-reaching influence in the art of Batik. Over the past forty years, she has worked, taught, and exhibited in locations as diverse as Los Angeles, London, and Berlin. Ms. Kurbally is renown not only for having led the revolution in forms and techniques of Batik but also for having used her art to tell the rich histories of her Cassamance and Gambian heritage, springing from Bintong Krubally, a Malian king and her great grandfather. Her works tell the stories of her ancestry: Sundiata Keita, slavery, motherlessness, pain, victory, life – themes that bring admiration for a woman who can boast of a Bakau Primary education and some training in the United States but who has gone on to sit with city mayors, presidents, and renown artists and dignitaries throughout the world.

For the past several years Queen Amie has been residing in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco – one of its hidden treasures.