First Friday Art Gallery opening featuring Amanda Dicken
After a couple months off for the cold weather, we are back! Come see us this Friday!
Each month we host a new artist in our building’s 2nd floor gallery at the Chesapeake Western Depot at 141 W. Bruce St. (second floor entrance is on Chesapeake). Artwork will remain on exhibit through the month. Come view the show and get a tour the Depot! We will have food and drink available!
Artist: Amanda Dicken
Bio:
Amanda Dicken was born near Cleveland, OH in 1980, and grew up surrounded by the artistic talents of her parents. Early on she knew she wanted to pursue art full-time, and spent her college years at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida, where she attained her Bachelors of Art degree and realized she had a knack for figure drawing. She spent a summer abroad, studying art with her professors and peers in Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and France, and the next summer at the New York Art Academy for an intensive training course in figurative art.
She spent ten years living in the Raleigh, North Carolina area, teaching painting and drawing while experimenting in many different mediums, including pastels, oil, and acrylic painting. She finally combined her love of drawing and painting using watercolor and Micron pens, and has continued using these mediums for her ever-evolving portraits and frames. She and her boyfriend moved out of the congested city and into the mountains of Harrisonburg, Virginia, where she makes portraits and works in the art community.
Statement:
Each portrait is made from either a family photograph or photograph found at flea markets or antique malls. Micron pen, layers of watercolor, gouache, and other mixed media are combined to bring the portrait to life, capture the passage of time or forgotten identity of each individual. Each frame is built-in foam board and created by this same process, and is designed to capture their personality, era when they lived, or the feeling their lives are long past. I’m excited when a person viewing my portraits is reminded of people in their own lives, whether past or present, and encourages me to keep developing this unique, family oriented body of work.
Check out her work here: www.ArtmandaJane.com
