About Amanda

Baltimore City
I make drawings and large, site specific installations which are also drawings. The former ink and water media works  often begin as anecdotal moments either recorded or observed as I explore the city around me, and frequently evolve to enfold idiosyncratic personal iconography that emphasizes the darkly comic and absurd. The latter are motivated by similar concerns. They are (usually) composed of hundreds of quick, gestural acrylic and flashe paint sketches made with a fat brush that are then… more

Drawing Installations 2013-2015

Over the past several years, I've been developing a body of temporary works that draws thematically from my works on paper and allows me to experiment with the forms that interest me on a large scale. Like my other work, I think of these pieces as drawings - they're made with similar materials (paint and paper), and there are many parallels with my other work in terms of the way they're put together (both make use of collage as a fundamental strategy, for instance). These "wall drawings" afford me different kinds of opportunities from my smaller drawings, however - primarily the chance to more aggressively make use of space, dramatize the page with atmospheric lighting, and to envelop/implicate the viewer.
  • Grid Plan
    Grid Plan
    Three views of a site specific drawing installation for "The Neighbors", American University Art Museum, 2014
  • Better Waverly
    Better Waverly
    Site specific drawing installation for "High Contrast" at CCBC Catonsville, MD, 2014
  • Para-Site
    Para-Site
    Four details of a site specific drawing installation for the Sondheim Semifinalists' Exhibition, MICA, Baltimore, MD, 2014
  • Para-site
    Para-site
    Panoramic view of a site specific drawing installation for the Sondheim Semifinalists' Exhibition, MICA, Baltimore, MD, 2014
  • Drift
    Drift
    Two detail views of a site specific drawing installation for Olin Gallery, Washington and Jefferson University, 2014
  • Drift
    Drift
    Two detail views of a site specific drawing installation for Olin Gallery, Washington and Jefferson University, 2014
  • Drift
    Drift
    Detail view of a site specific drawing installation for Olin Gallery, Washington and Jefferson University, 2014
  • Pump Fake
    Pump Fake
    Site specific drawing installation for NoMA Bid project with Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, DC, 2013
  • Rover
    Rover
    Two views of a site specific drawing installation for Maryland Art Place Benefit, Baltimore, MD, 2013
  • boomtown
    boomtown
    Site specific drawing installation for Birke Gallery, Marshall University, Huntington, WV, 2013

Drawing Installations 2011-2013

Over the past several years, I've been developing a body of temporary works that draws thematically from my works on paper and allows me to experiment with the forms that interest me on a large scale. Like my other work, I think of these pieces as drawings - they're made with similar materials (paint and paper), and there are many parallels with my other work in terms of the way they're put together (both make use of collage as a fundamental strategy, for instance). These "wall drawings" afford me different kinds of opportunities from my smaller drawings, however - primarily the chance to more aggressively make use of space, dramatize the page with atmospheric lighting, and to envelop/implicate the viewer.
  • Co-dependency
    Co-dependency
    View of a site specific installation at "House, Dignified", Area 405, 2013
  • Loop
    Loop
    Wall drawing, Towson Town Center, for Maryland Art Place "Impact" Public Art program, 2013
  • S.O.S.
    S.O.S.
    Two views of a site specific installation at Meyerhoff Gallery, MICA, 2013
  • Edge City
    Edge City
    View of a site specific installation at the Pearl Conard Gallery, the Ohio State University, Mansfield, 2013
  • Gathering
    Gathering
    Two installation views of a site specific piece at Bridge Gallery, New York, NY, 2012.
  • Greenmount
    Greenmount
    Site specific installation for "Beyond the Parking Lot", Artisphere, Arlington, VA, 2012.
  • Back Alley
    Back Alley
    Two installation views of a site specific piece for the Sondheim Semifinalists Show, Artscape, Maryland Institute College of Art, 2012.
  • Limn
    Limn
    Three installation views of a site specific piece at the Furlong Gallery, University of Wisconsin-Stout, 2012.
  • Walkshed
    Walkshed
    Three installation views of a site specific piece at the Delaware Center for Contemporary Art, Wilmington, DE, 2011.
  • Import
    Import
    Three installation views of a site specific piece at Volta 7, Basel, Switzerland, 2011.

Recent Drawings III

This group of drawings are representative of a body of work presently underway - though related to the landscape concerns of my past work, these works have more in common with the subjective organization of my installations than my older drawings, and more extensively capitalize on the metaphoric potential of landscape idioms.
  • Not Dead, Can't Quit
    Not Dead, Can't Quit
    Ink on paper 40 x 60" 2014
  • I've Got Questions
    I've Got Questions
    Ink on paper 7 x 10" 2014
  • Overpass
    Overpass
    Ink on paper 40 x 60" 2014
  • Slow Leak
    Slow Leak
    Ink on paper 40 x 60" 2013
  • Mirabella
    Mirabella
    Ink on paper 7 x 10" 2013
  • Covenant
    Covenant
    Ink on paper 7 x 10" 2013
  • Machine Code
    Machine Code
    7 x 10" Ink on paper 2013
  • Untitled (back patch)
    Untitled (back patch)
    Ink on paper 7 x 10" 2013
  • Untitled (Last Call)
    Untitled (Last Call)
    Ink on paper 7 x 10" 2013
  • Untitled (Stop)
    Untitled (Stop)
    Ink on paper 10 x 10" 2013

Recent Drawings II

This group of drawings are representative of a body of work presently underway - though related to the landscape concerns of my past work, these works have more in common with the subjective organization of my installations than my older drawings, and more extensively capitalize on the metaphoric potential of landscape idioms.
  • Untitled (Off the Rails)
    Untitled (Off the Rails)
    Ink on paper 7 x 10" 2015
  • Untitled (Awnings)
    Untitled (Awnings)
    Ink on paper 7 x 10" 2015
  • Untitled (Celebration)
    Untitled (Celebration)
    Ink on paper 10 x 7" 2015
  • Untitled (Burrito)
    Untitled (Burrito)
    Ink on paper 10 x 7" 2015
  • Untitled (Raft)
    Untitled (Raft)
    Ink on paper 2015 7 x 10"
  • Untitled (Menu)
    Untitled (Menu)
    Ink on paper 10 x 7" 2015
  • Untitled (Plane Tree)
    Untitled (Plane Tree)
    Ink on paper 7 x 10" 2015
  • Peeple
    Peeple
    Ink on paper 22 x 23" 2015
  • Wayfarer
    Wayfarer
    Acrylic on panel 16 x 20" 2016

"Just No" - 2016

This body of drawings builds on the landscape concerns of my work while also pulling in idiosyncratic personal iconography. Begun during my residency at the Embassy for Foreign Artists in Geneva, Switzerland (April-June 2015), they became the basis of my 2016 self published artist book, "Just No."
  • Untitled (Over)
    Untitled (Over)
    10 x 22" Ink on paper 2015
  • Untitled (Aqueduct)
    Untitled (Aqueduct)
    10 x 22" Ink on paper 2015
  • Untitled (Tru)
    Untitled (Tru)
    10 x 22" Ink on paper 2015
  • Untitled (Legs)
    Untitled (Legs)
    10 x 22" Ink on paper 2015
  • Untitled (Uhaul)
    Untitled (Uhaul)
    10 x 22" Ink on paper 2015
  • Untitled (Tents)
    Untitled (Tents)
    10 x 22" Ink on paper 2015
  • Untitled (Mouth)
    Untitled (Mouth)
    10 x 22" Ink on paper 2015
  • Untitled (Tape)
    Untitled (Tape)
    10 x 22" Ink on paper 2015
  • Untitled (Bubble)
    Untitled (Bubble)
    10 x 22" Ink on paper 2015
  • Untitled (Slide)
    Untitled (Slide)
    10 x 22" Ink on paper 2015

RFP - 2015

An open ended drawing installation picturing Baltimore through massed drawings of its structures and the words and images of city residents, "RFP" celebrated the ideal of an open city that actively welcomes and functions on behalf of all its residents. Constructed entirely at EMP Collective's downtown locations (a vast, raw former commercial storefront in the Bromo Tower District), “RFP” was built and evolved all day, every day, over the course of two months. Throughout, visitors were welcomed into the space as I worked, and encouraged both by me and by the design of the piece to contribute (a large central table beckoned with tape, pens, and paper piles – some slips blank, others with prompts encouraging reflection on the city and our places in it, like “I feel the most like I belong here when…”, "this town needs...", and "Baltimore is..."). Though the exhibition closed February 28th, the visitor additions, which were thoroughly documented, are being compiled into a book.

More information and documentation on the project can be found at: www.rfpbaltimore.org
  • "RFP" - installation view
    "RFP" - installation view
    Site specific installation at EMP Collective Paint, paper, tape, cardboard, lumber, lights 2015
  • "RFP" - installation view
    "RFP" - installation view
    Site specific installation at EMP Collective Paint, paper, tape, cardboard, lumber, lights 2015
  • View of visitors adding their words and images to "RFP"
    View of visitors adding their words and images to "RFP"
    Site specific installation at EMP Collective Paint, paper, tape, cardboard, lumber, lights 2015
  • "RFP" - installation view
    "RFP" - installation view
    Site specific installation at EMP Collective Paint, paper, tape, cardboard, lumber, lights 2015
  • "RFP" - installation detail
    "RFP" - installation detail
    Site specific installation at EMP Collective Paint, paper, tape, cardboard, lumber, lights 2015
  • "RFP" - installation detail
    "RFP" - installation detail
    Site specific installation at EMP Collective Paint, paper, tape, cardboard, lumber, lights 2015
  • "RFP" - installation view
    "RFP" - installation view
    Site specific installation at EMP Collective Paint, paper, tape, cardboard, lumber, lights 2015
  • "RFP" - installation view
    "RFP" - installation view
    Site specific installation at EMP Collective Paint, paper, tape, cardboard, lumber, lights 2015
  • "RFP" - installation view
    "RFP" - installation view
    Site specific installation at EMP Collective Paint, paper, tape, cardboard, lumber, lights 2015
  • "RFP" - installation view
    "RFP" - installation view
    Site specific installation at EMP Collective Paint, paper, tape, cardboard, lumber, lights 2015