AMANDA BROWDER

Artist Statement:

Fabric unites stories, amplifies voices and creates moments of meaning. This work supports non-hierarchical formulations of craft vs. art, and fosters community participation through sewing and dialogue and community participation as a way to connect with others in a time of complex change in our society. Socially based constructs in the public realm inform my work in tandem with my delightful bag-of-tricks: mathematics, color, symmetry, scale and people who are always my truth. The dialog between craft and art is in the work, complementing criticality and conversation in a site-specific response. My approach signifies that “The artist” is not one, but rather an evolving network of participants and spectators and collaborators. Sculptural gesture and painterly pause are challenged by the fluidity of textiles, paralleling craft history in which most artists remain anonymous; the work transcends individual identity to become an expression of a focused social collective. 

Through all steps of the process, I create the space for community volunteers to participate in ways that facilitate conversations about many topics, especially those concerning labor, gendered art practices, local folk art traditions and civic spaces.

Bio:

Born in Missoula, MT, in 1976, Amanda Browder received an MFA/MA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She currently lives in Brooklyn, producing over 30+ large-scale fabric installations all around the world. Amplifying multiple voices, she collaborates with local community groups and sources her textiles from local donations.

Exhibitions include: Triennale Brugge, Project 1: ArtPrize; SPRING/BREAK Art Fair; New Museum, Ideas City Festival; Nuit Blanche Public Art Festival/LEITMOTIF Toronto; Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts, Birmingham, AL; ArtsWestchester, Westchester, NY; White Columns, NYC; Nakaochiai Gallery, Tokyo. Published in Unexpected Art: Chronicle Books and Strange Material; Arsenal Pulp Press.

She received her first NEA grant in 2016 with the Buffalo Art Museum and later with the St. Charles Art Center and the Sioux City Art Center in 2023. Photos and reviews have appeared in New York Times to Fiber Art Magazine to Hyperallergic. Her work “Night Rainbow” is in the permanent collection of the Buffalo Art Museum, where a large-scale installation is currently on view in the new contemporary wing in the Gundlach Building.

Website: amandabrowder.com
Instagram: @browdertown 
Facebook: @AmandaBrowder76