
AMANDA J SHEARS
Artist Statement
‘I do not create what I see, I create what I feel’
My practice is far reaching and eclectic.
Sculpture, painting, printmaking, site specific installation, performance, dance.
I am constantly evolving, learning, from my peers, from nature, from life, the esoteric.
My studio is my hub but collaborating and moving keep my practice alive. I am part of a community, many creative communities and my need to be surrounded by this is what drives me.
Always with an urge to pick up a palette knife, mix colours or swirl charcoal across a canvas. The smell of wood as I chisel and rasp it into shapes and forms is exotic, potent and nostalgic. The form is always directed by the wood itself, the original sketch and maquette discarded. Stone, whatever its source, dictates the shapes that emerge. Covered in powder, exhausted from hammering stone or wood I am utterly contented and can lose myself for hours. This is why I create. It is necessary. I immerse myself in nature and channel its beauty.
I have always been surrounded by art. I grew up with creative parents. I lived in London as a graphic designer. In Barcelona I was surrounded in the art scene for many years. I studied sculpture in Menorca.
I grew up in Cornwall in a caravan on the cliffs of Pendeen.
I travelled.. and drifted.. and kept drifting.
And now I live in the depths of Somerset surrounded by green hills, rivers, apple trees, rabbits, sheep and friendly people.
My wish is to surprise and to engage a reaction, whether delight, passion, disgust..I do not mind! But react! Feel free! Come fly with me!

