Training my eye on the natural environment is a departure from the often superficial distractions of my daily experience. It allows me to practice mindfulness and affirm life in its deepest sense through the diverse forms and colors of the natural world. Creating harmonious artworks is also a declaration that, not only is beauty valuable, it is crucial to our spiritual survival. My painted landscapes derive from my walks in the preserves, gardens, and random wild places of northern New York and Long Island and the various gardening and wilderness books I pour over in the studio. My paintings consistently feature dappled light and shadow, varied plant forms, rhythmic pattern, and complex color relationships. A more recent subject of my work is realistically depicted fabric. Spun, crumpled, or blown cloth takes on organic shape and texture suggestive of body parts and the animated figure. The fabric can be flowing freely, draped over mannequins, or worn. Successfully integrating these dreamlike and abstracted parts into the otherwise realistic landscape is a complicated dance. As I continue to experiment, I aim for luscious natural space, cohesive flow between pattern and color, and ambiguous forms that suggest the presence of a woman navigating that moment in time.
I began the Yoga Series of collages to exorcise certain personal and existential heartache. The female yogis express both tribulation and the graceful strength that develops from suffering. Yoga, being rooted in the spiritual and manifesting in the physical, resonates with me as I explore the terrain of relationships between myself and my family, friends, society, and the divine. Using the female form enables me to draw attention to and celebrate women who have done the soul searching and contemplative work of evolving themselves emotionally and spiritually. It is this group of women, and other people I subsequently met, whose courage, authenticity, and compassion have helped me to develop my artistic voice. Through collage, I continue to express what I feel in response to systems and modes of behavior that undermine my deepest values. I continue to learn and hope that my curiosity and willingness to be a part of the conversation lasts a lifetime.
Amanda earned her BFA in Painting from the Rhode Island School of Design and was a recipient of the distinguished European Honors Program where she spent a year of intensive study abroad in Italy. After graduating, she drove across the country and found a home in Mendocino, California where she wrote, painted, and helped run an after school program serving children from the local Native American reservation. She returned to New York to start her beautiful family. From Manhattan to Southampton, Amanda has worked in the art department of an advertising firm, assisted the director of a historical museum, and taught drawing, painting, and sculpture. While she cherishes each and every experience, she felt the call to live more intentionally. Throwing open the windows and letting the light in, she incorporated several new practices into her life including a return to her creatively expressive roots. She is forever grateful for the inspiration and the opportunity.