Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Wilson
Hi Amanda, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
From a young age I have always wanted to be an artist, I drew all the time as a kid. I have always been drawn towards the arts in some form or another. I grew up in Orem, Utah, when I was in high school at Mountain View, I joined the theater program under the direction of my teacher and mentor Nathan Criman, who showed me just how big I could dream. I started painting sets for the theatrical productions and getting involved as an actor. Which then led me to studying theater in my college years, and right away I found a job working in the scenic shop for Snow College building sets and painting. Continued to paint the sets for the next 5 semesters I attended during my Associates degree. I moved on to Utah Valley University in the spring of 2012, which by then I was engaged to my high school sweetheart Shane. We just celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary this past May. I completed my Bachelors of Arts in Theater with an emphasis in Performance with the intention of focusing on my craft as an actor than a painter behind the scenes.
Outside of school and part time work, I kept getting requests for my scenic paintwork in local theater productions in the valley and some up in the Salt Lake area. At the end of my Bachelors degree, I took a few weeks to study abroad in Berlin, and was able to attend an original Robert Wilson production of, “Peter Pan” at the Berliner Ensemble, and it stuck with me. The artistry one can achieve within the theater realm, and I wondered what I could do with the company I was with at the time when I returned. My husband and I became pregnant with our first child in 2015, and I stepped away from painting for a time and went into the workforce. Not participating in theater, I was still sketching and drawing but felt major imposter syndrome for wanting to be an artist and wondering if I should just focus on being a mother and finding another job. Fast forward to us having our 2nd child in 2017, we had moved to Payson to a townhome we purchased, and I went back to work full time and Shane stayed home. Jumping forward to 2019, a college friend from my days at Snow asked me to audition for a musical he was directing, and I so badly wanted to return to my love of theater and auditioned. My 1st production back was the 1st full stage production of Stephen Gashler’s original musical, “Valhalla, A Nordic Rock Opera” I played a nun, a viking and the Lead Valkyrie. This production and others I have been involved with through Great Hall Theatrical Productions on their YouTube channel. I ended up researching Nordic art for the show and hand painted the shield we used in the production. From there I went on to assist in helping paint several of their theater sets and designing their set for “Valhalla” in 2021 in which, I with the assistance of many of the cast was heavily painted with 13 different Tapestries we created to help inform the scenery in that specific production. Most likely one of my favorite sets I have painted yet down at the wonderful Angelus Theater in Spanish Fork where all of Great Hall’s shows I participated in were run. I had also begun to paint for Cobb Co. Productions, ran by my high school friend Ruthie Cobb and her brother John. Eventually the cost of living made it tricky to continue with as much time as I was giving, I had to back off painting and go back to the work force. At the same time, in early 2020 right before COVID-19 shifted the entire world, I had a Human Design reading from my friend Natalie Collins, and this experience changed me forever leading me to understand within myself that I felt increasingly pulled towards creating my own art, even intuitively led art from sitting with others and a desire to essentially create a personal oracle card for others. If you don’t know what Human Design is, I highly recommend researching it, its fascinating and has guided me to where I am now with my artistry. A tool that can be utilized to find direction within ones self mentally and spiritually too.
My children were very young during the early days of the pandemic, and a lot of my time was spent with them while Shane went back to working full time, and I finding ways to paint again and be creative. A college friend from my time at UVU recommended my name to Backstage Performing Arts up in Centerville and I painted for them for two productions before I needed to pivot directions and began to focus on my own creations. For a short time I have offered Aura paintings for others. This is a process where I sit with you in person or a video call, I connect with you and view your energy. I do have an ability to see colors around those around me when I concentrate my gaze and interpret the session into a painting of what I see within your aura. I have taken a break from offering this for the time being as I desire to reform my process for a better flow and turn around time for those who seek what I discovered had become what I desired from that Human Design reading of being able to create an Oracle card for individuals who were seeking to experience their own aura in a creative form.
Which brings me to today, I currently play around colorful, sometimes psychedelic backgrounds with a metallic layer of free handed filigree of my own style. I play with varying ideas, of doing the same painting from photos i’ve taken to paint in within 1 hour, a painting of the same in 10 hours to a final version taking 100 hours to see how different lengths of time can impact the flow and detail of a painting.
I just turned 33 in May, and had the idea to try something brand new. After many wonderful discussions with a close friend, I came to understand my purpose further within my art that I create. It is an expression of love. I desire for those who come across my work to feel the love I have for what I do and for those who love art, but also to show others they are not alone, and by our mere existence in the world, there is room for more love, more art and creativity. We all contain a universe of thoughts within and I cannot help but share mine through many forms. I just started a new project in May 2024 called The Palette of Perception, in which I will be creating 33 original paintings in the next 12 months in my 33rd year around the sun. My desire within these paintings is to showcase my unique voice and how I see the world, the experiences I have had with the good, the bad, the ugly and the wonderful. Continue to grow as an artist and as I like to say simply, “Ebb with the flow”
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has not been a smooth road, but if the road was smooth, then how would I know where to go and what roads to take? I used to intensely find myself searching for my style as a painter. I wanted to have something clear and defined, I realized that was causing me to try to niche down too far, when I am an artist who is multifaceted. I sing, I play the ukulele, guitar and piano, I act, and I write poetry, not just a painter. Its taken me a long time to stop listening to all the mentors out there telling me to focus on only one, when that has just never been the way I function.
Another struggle, believe it or not, is actually painting the pieces I want to create. Sometimes I just sit with the canvas, ensuring when I do make the stroke it is the one I intended for the piece. This also creates another obstacle for me where I have such a superfluous amount of ideas that I get paralyzed with decision fatigue. I’ve come a long way with little games I play with my mind and my skills to help me break past the hesitation, it all comes down to wanting something to be painted perfectly. I know perfection is not something that is ideal for a painting, I just want to be sure that I feel confident about my work when I am ready to say the piece is completed.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a painter, work with acrylics on canvas, and dabble some with digital artworks. I have been drawn towards abstracted backgrounds of varying color, layered with a metallic color painted with free hand filigree, and sometimes use stencils for a more focused direction for the piece. I also meditate on the topics and things I want to paint. More recently I have been drawn to doing more of my own creations than doing commissions for others. I also from time to time I offer Aura paintings, currently I am restructuring my process and pricing before I can offer those again, but they will come back!
I am more known for my free hand filigree designs on abstracted colors the most, I am always open to what comes to my mind as I am crafting. Not limiting myself to just the paint, brush and canvas.
I am most proud of my 12 originals I created for my 1st ever Art show I put together called The Symbolic Palette: A Fusion of Greek Myth, Color and Meaning.
I feel my perspective is what sets me apart, I am always dreaming, crafting ideas, looking at the world around me wondering how moments can be captured, what colors would paint the mood just right. I hope to showcase that further in my next project on my new YouTube channel.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
I did mention several names in my first answer for the interview.
I will say Nathan Criman, my high school drama teacher, he helped me see that it is possible to dream big.
Dr. Kim Christison, my college theater mentor at Snow College, he taught me critical thinking, and to ask questions.
Chris Clark, one of my professors at UVU when I was studying for my Bachelors, he helped me learn the value in trying even if I might fail, sometimes our failures become exactly what we were looking for.
Ben Hopkin, he was my acting for film professor, but he taught me that I always have an opportunity to create, I already have the tools in my hand, referring to my phone and he was right!
Natalie Marie Collins for reading my Human Design chart and setting me on my artistic path.
All of my mentors in theater influenced where I am today, realizing that all the direction I have had in the theater realm absolutely translates in some fashion being a painter.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amandaruth_artistry/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmandaRuth.Artistry
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AmandaRuth_Artistry
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@amandaruth_artistry?_t=8muCtuXHBNe&_r=1
