ARTIST STATEMENT
There are aspects of the human experience that we all connect to… Colors that are universal triggers for emotive experiences, layering and juxtaposition of material that speaks to the veils that conceal our memories or, triggers that push them to the surface, and the metamorphosis of our physical and feeling selves. These sparks are at the heart of the universal human experience.
I use materials that “record” and have memory of my handling and the crafting of those materials into visual forms. Weaving, crochet, and working with fibers and clay are central to my practice. I maintain an intuitive relationship with my visual works. Visual choices, materials, color, and forms, are chosen through response from passage to passage or from form to form and are visual recordkeepers of that relationship.
My work is also largely influenced by personal history and narratives; the shared stories, influences, and learned practices that are passed down by those having the greatest impact on our story. These generational influences shape and define our path, and for me, have informed much of my art making process.
Place and environment and the idea of where we call home and take shelter are threads that are ever present in my work. Visual representations I create allude to architectural forms and forms found in the natural world. These representations also metaphorically call to memory, feeling emotionally safe and sheltered by the people and places that protected us. Natural materials such as reeds, vines, and the crape myrtle branch are central to the structures I create as the recollections they spark call back to safe moments and spaces.
The work I make traces the path of experiences, choices, and stories. These moments and memories, that I give form, in part draw from my own journeys and observations with the places and the people that surround them, personal histories, memory, and the emotive qualities of these moments. I invite the viewer to a pensive and reflective experience of the tactile surfaces, color, and structures that I create. They stand as a chronological and emotional record of journey.
BIO
Amanda has a background in various media with her current focus being drawing, weaving, fibers, and mixed media sculpture. She completed her B. A. in Art at Roanoke College in Salem, VA in 2002. During the next decade while working as a fine artist she was active in the Lake Norman Area’s arts community. She held curatorial positions for local arts organizations including Mooresville Arts. In 2017 Amanda completed her MFA in general studios at Winthrop University with a concentration in sculpture and drawing. During her time in the program her work was selected to Artfields in Lake City, SC in 2014 and 2015. She also served as a teaching assistant for 3D design during her time in the program. Throughout her studies in the program Amanda took the skills of sewing, crocheting, and natural reed weaving that she learned from her grandmother as a child and found ways to combine these skills and media with more contemporary sculptural methods working them in with materials such as plastics, glass, ceramic, and steel and with her new found skills in fiber weaving.
Amanda has been included in several group shows since the early 2000’s and her thesis exhibition Purge at the Elizabeth Dunlap Patrick Gallery at Winthrop University in 2017. Amanda’s sculptural work was included in a group show, titled Shift at Central Piedmont Community College’s Ross and Overcash Galleries August 2019. Recently in 2021, a series of her works, titled Generation, was exhibited at the Arts Council of York County’s Perimeter Gallery and she also is part of their Alleys as Galleries.
Other awards include an ArtPop Billboard in 2018 and she was a Community Supported Artist Grant recipient from the Arts and Science Council in 2019. She also has participated in South End Arts, ARTS at the Trolley, as well as, community events through art donations.
She has been a past adjunct instructor at Gaston College in 3D Design and Sculpture and at York Technical College in Art Appreciation.
Most recently, she has work in the 2026 Artfields competition, Wildwood, Days End and will be part of an upcoming group show at the Arts Council of York County titled “This Is The Place” exhibiting October 2026.
For more information on ArtPop please check out their website found here at ArtPopStreetGallery.com
