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 what we all share - the human condition.
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 look for my work to present the viewer with two dimensional and sculptural forms that exemplify the power that the choice of materials can bring to a work, and how the handling and processing of a material can imbue feeling and emotion from a given recollection to a piece.
My materials are diverse, fiber or wood, soft or hard.
Narratives, stories, journeys, and memories are what drive my creative process.
Words such as fragility, gravity, intuitive, fluid, and transitory, can describe how I create and what I leave for the viewer to experience.
Cycles, shifts, change, emotions, and feelings are glimpses into the conceptual ideas present in my work.
Lines, …drawn, structures, and implied trace and connect.
Navigating these fragments in my drawings, paintings, and sculptural forms lets the viewer trace through the feeling and emotive response present in my visual storytelling.
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.
For more information on ArtPop please check out their website found here at ArtPopStreetGallery.com