9 Jun 23 - 29 Jul 23, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
An exhibition of works by Amanda Thompson. The exhibition opening will be held on Friday 9 June at 5:30pm. Refreshments available.
Exhibition running from 9 June to 29 July 2023.
Please direct all inquiries and RSVP for exhibition opening to secretary@romaonbungil.com.au
ARTIST STATEMENT
I grew up in Surat and moved to the Sunshine Coast 15 yrs ago. I have 2 beautiful children, Lachlan 26 and Ellie 20.
I can say now I was always interested in creativity of some kind, either painting, drawing, photography, crafts or cooking. But it wasn’t until I picked up a paint brush and painted my first piece 26 yrs ago when my son was a baby that I thought I was actually artistic. I entered that piece into Easter in the Country and won.
Becoming involved in setting up the Balonne River Gallery in Surat encouraged me to actively paint for my first exhibition “A Touch of Red”. Around the same time I set up a small coffee shop called Vogue House, displayed my art here; owned it for 3yrs, sold it and became a nurse. I still work as a nurse, although now in a busy emergency department on the Sunshine Coast. Somewhere along the way I became dissatisfied with how we deliver western medicine, treating the wound and not the person. Although it has its place in this big wide world, I felt like there was more and I soon discovered Art Therapy. I studied to become a Therapist, hosted a retreat in Bali and then covid happened. So I participated in yoga teacher training, specialising more in the therapy side of yoga; and I painted Pieces of Me! This pivotal piece for me triggered the exhibition. Although I had painted a few pieces prior, these works stemmed more from my studies. You don’t study psychology and not have your past unresolved conflicts not come back to haunt you. And Art Therapy is just about that, when words fail us, we do art right!
My works explore the emotional aspects of ourselves and those relationships we encounter throughout life. I believe we leave little pieces of ourselves within every meaningful place and person we meet.
I’ve used acrylics as the main medium for each piece, some I’ve incorporated pastels, pencil or charcoal. All works are on canvas. Each piece came to me as a vision, one that I always sketched down quickly. Rarely did they end up exactly how I thought; challenging me in the most profound way that is difficult to articulate here. I’d like to thank my daughter Ellie for being my little curator, I didn’t always listen to her, but she challenged me in ways she’ll never know and thus inadvertently helped me finalise each and every piece.
I don’t have any formal art training, so I don’t follow any rules. I paint what I feel, from the heart. This exhibition is different to others in that each piece is a story. I wanted to take the viewer on a journey, but not necessarily for them to be aware of my personal history. More so, I wanted to challenge them, to level up and ask themselves ‘can I relate to this in some way.’ I myself grew up in an era where crying or expressing emotions was weak and needy. And now that I’ve grown, I know that’s absolutely not true, but that’s a piece of me too.