AMANDA WATSON
Born
1962.
Graduate Diploma in
Physiotherapy - Pinderfields College, Wakefield.
Art training
- Leeds College of Art.
The University of Leeds, BA(hons) Fine Art (painting)
2001 - 2004
Exhibitions
GROUP
Sept 2007 - Green Door Studios Annual Exhibition. The
Alexander Gallery,
St. Martin's College, Lancaster.
Sept 2004 - "Not Set in Stone"
The Manor House, Ilkley.
June 2004 - "Climax...at Longside"
Longside Gallery, Bretton Hall, Wakefield.
In 2004 I moved
to Windermere in the English Lake District and a change of career. I spent two
years building up a new business,
Thorncliffe Bed & Breakfast.
Since late 2006 I have had the time to produce a new body of art work and in
2007 I
joined the Green Door Studios in Kendal.
My work is land based, and encompassing the
breadth of my artistic practice is an ever-growing curiosity stemming from
the relationship between "Man and Nature."
I live in the Lake District, an area
renowned for its beauty; "Romanticized" by Wordsworth, Coleridge and
Ruskin. As an artist my immediate surroundings, the rural environment and
our place within that environment, inspire me. My work seeks to challenge
the centuries old formulaic view of landscape art, the traditional "view",
which during the 19th Century was further compounded when a
veil of sublimity was hung over it. The land for me is not a separate
entity, to be viewed in awe, but something that we share a connection
with. Therefore, I have no desire to recreate a faithfully accurate
"view", a reproduction of only what I see from a single viewpoint, in
effect a "framed" image; my work is more an attempt to convey to the
viewer how the experience of living in this area affects me on all levels.
An experience that is clouded slightly by some of our present day concerns
and beliefs, but one that is still none the less a personal 21st
Century response.
The finished pieces are as diverse in their
form as is Nature. I employ a variety of media to create a varied body of
work, including paintings on canvas or board, structural constructions
containing found objects, and digitally manipulated photographs, which
hopefully convey my responses to the environment.
An important aspect of my work is an
attempt to render in a physical form the varied experiences I have whilst
interacting with "Nature". It follows that sensory perception and the
subsequent creation of, and / or recall of a memory is integral to this
process; as are the thoughts, feelings, moods, and emotions I have at the
time. A certain amount of intuition is employed also, despite its
intangible nature, it is no less important. I often attempt to consciously
retain the image of a particular place, plant, hedgerow etc as a starting
point for a piece of work, recollection of the visual then blends with
stored sensations as the work progresses.
The evocation of a memory by the subliminal
registering of a particular sensation fascinates me. Colour, form in all
its diversity, texture, sound and smell can all evoke particular memories,
thereby setting the content or mood of a piece of work. Occasionally the
piece has been completed before the "memory" is evoked. What I find
particularly interesting is the potential evocation of a personal memory
for the viewer.
Process is an important aspect of my work;
the creation of a piece can at times be almost ritualistic. For example,
the revisiting of a place, being mirrored by the repetitive actions of
mark making on a support, both serving to create a depth of knowing and a
sense of place. The inclusion of found objects and Homeopathic remedies in
some works, weaves into them a sense of mans’ interaction with the land,
in both a physical sense and symbolically.