Integration of Ecological & Technological Environmental Systems: Our world is a stunning intertwining of ecological and technological systems that rest on the transformation and concentration of energenic action. Noticing and documenting how these two systems interplay with each other is something I investigate in my work.
The Right Medium for the Work: Through the process of looking and engaging with a scene or image, the requirements for the depiction will drive my selection of medium. I will default to those I know best -- graphite, collage, watercolor -- and will not hesitate to combine media where the work demands.
Multiples for Innovation & Learning: Through each repetition of a scene or image, a new opportunity is provided to identify the elements that are working for or against a comfortable depiction. Through pursuing many of these possibilities, I learn something new about the scene, the medium or my technique that I bring forward to my next work.
Deliberate Use of Manufacturing Approaches: For much of my career, I have focused on modeling manufacturing processes to support the decision-making of engineers when determining how best to make a product or a part. I bring similar considerations into my art, using tools that allow for rapid reproduction (i.e. stenciling, gridding, printing, scanning) when it suits the needs or goals of a particular work.
Inspiration through Commissions: The most interesting work I have done through my career has been when I interpret the needs of others into a creation. It gives an opportunity for me to be creative and investigate possible embodiments while keeping a goal in mind. I learn and am inspired any time I look at something deeply. A commission pushes me to look deeply at something I might otherwise miss.
In Person Consulting & Sales: My priority for selling my work and completing commissions is to engage directly avoiding mediation by the hyper capitalist frames of social media.
Engaging with the environment deliberately from a commission, travel sketches or sketches from my local area, I observe the scene with curiosity, noticing the elements that accentuate reality.
These elements often dictate the first medium I use. In completing the initial work, I notice more, looking deeper, stimulating further curiosity to experiment with alternative embodiments.
While not every piece in a series is a success, I learn about the scene, the media and the goals of the work, developing skills and techniques through each series and iteration.
© Amanda Bligh 2025 (All human!)
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