ARTIST STATEMENT
I create contemporary sculptures in ceramics, bronze and marble from my Sydney studio. My previous work in writing and graphic design taught me to seek simplicity and to keep only the essential parts of a story - and this philosophy now guides my sculptural style.

I search for the essential elements of a form, especially the human form, through the interaction of shape, line and space. My first love is figurative sculpture. While people’s relationships with each other is my favourite subject - especially the parent and child - my message is focussed on joy, life and love. I am an optimist at heart, always seeing the best in people, and I reflect this hope, and strength, in my figures.

Balance is another area I like to explore - I love exploring the movement and tension that balance brings. Surface texture and patterns also fascinate me, the way these markings can both highlight the shape of the piece and gives it depth and personality. For me, texture also marks a piece with 'made-by-hand' stamp.

PROCESS
A quick pencil drawing of an image in my mind is usually my starting point. Sometimes I'll make a small clay 'maquette' which then acts as a first draft for the larger piece. The next stage of 'roughing out' the sculpture is a fairly quick process - creating something from nothing and watching it suddenly come to life can be very exciting. The next stage is when time slows and the process becomes more meditatative, as I modify and tweak, and then finish the surface.

All my ceramic pieces are one-offs, created from rolled slabs of clay formed into hollow shells and fired in my studio kiln. My metal sculptures are either one-offs in the 'lost wax' method (sculpted in wax to go straight to the foundry) or a silicone mold is made of the original sculpture before being cast in a limited edition of ten.

I like to keep my finished sculptures around for a little while before I let them go. And then I like to know they are heading to a good forever home!

BACKGROUND
Amanda Harrison was born in London and grew up in the Blue Mountains and in Sydney. Sculpture has never been far from her hands, including a major work in her final year of high school and a clay animation film at university. 

Whilst travelling and working, Amanda completed a Certificate of Sculpture in the evenings at the Kensington and Chelsea College, London. Back in Sydney, during careers in writing and graphic design, she continued to build her sculptural practice through self-education, studio workshops and TAFE courses under the guidance of well-known artists.

Ten years ago she finally set up her own studio in Greenwich, Sydney, where she now works in clay, wax and marble. She fires her ceramic pieces in her electric kiln (solar-powered) and sends her waxes to the foundry to be cast into metal.

She has exhibited widely and been accepted into numerous competitions, including Ravenswood Women’s Art Prize. She has won many awards, recently winning the Acquisitive Prize for Small Sculpture at Sculpture in the Gardens (Mudgee) and the Abstract Sculpture Prize at Royal Arts Show (Sydney). Other recent awards include the Acquisitive Prize at Sculpture Bermagui, and Emerging Artist Award at Sculpture for Clyde, Batemans Bay.

Amanda is currently on the committee for The Sculptors Society, and has been the convenor of the annual Greenwich Village Arts Trail for the past 11 years.
 

"Art opens our eyes to see and our brain to imagine." (Unknown author)