If you have not stopped in to the Wilson Downtown Gallery to see the artwork of our current artist, Amanda Dicken, you’re in luck – her show will be up for one more month. This is one you’ll want to see! Her portraiture done with pen, watercolor, gouache, acrylic paint, and pastel is unique, eye-catching, and done with remarkable skill. This show is sure to draw you in and make you take a second look.
About the Artist:
Amanda Dicken received her Bachelor of Arts from Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida in 2002. During two summers she also studied abroad in Italy and at the New York Academy of Art. She recently moved to Elkton, Virginia, after living and exhibiting in and around the Raleigh, North Carolina area for over ten years. Her work focuses primarily on 2-D and 3-D drawing and painting experimentation based on the human figure.
Artist Statement:
Many of these portraits are descendants I’ve only met through photographs, so I wanted to take those images and create a connection to them through a 3-D form of drawing and painting. This attempts to merge the past of where I came from to a visual I created of their story in the present. The drawings on both the portraits and frames are done in a free-flow style with a fine-tipped Micron pen, then filled in with layers of watercolor and gouache. Sometimes touches of acrylic paint or even pastel are added.
Though paper and foam board are not usually considered sturdy, I enjoy the challenge of creating with these materials to make functioning frames capable of hanging on the wall. These frames are sculptural elements reflecting either the time each photograph was taken, an object I have of theirs, or the personality of the portrait. There are no names associated with these individuals, because I’d like each viewer to create their own idea of who these people are or were, and invite them to look deeper into the roots of their own family trees.
FIRST FRIDAYS ARTIST RECEPTION
Amanda Dicken, Wilson Downtown Gallery
83 South Main Street, Harrisonburg [map]
May 5, 2017 @ 5-8PM
Light refreshments provided
FREE!
Or stop by from 10 AM – 5 PM, Tuesday-Friday