Visual Artist
Amanda
Amanda's
Story
“By the time I came to Chadwick for kindergarten, I had already lived in three countries. I learned Italian in preschool, Danish from my mom and English from my dad. I didn’t know which was which. Art was an activity we could all do together. It was all I wanted to do. I became the girl who liked art.
Chadwick makes sure that everyone tries everything. I’m an experimental artist. I try new mediums as much as possible. I got to try ceramics and mixed media, and now I poke wire in canvases. I’ve seen what’s out there and now get to use my own techniques.
It’s great to come sit down, put on my headphones and zone out. Do my art. It's never “do this specific thing.” You can interpret instructions in your own way. Art is my happy place. It takes me away from everything else and lets me put all of that on a piece of paper or canvas.
From taking a bunch of classes at Chadwick and outside of school, I’ve been able to experiment with different genres. I started Unestablished over the summer, making and selling clothes and teaching fashion design classes for the Summer Programs. I would encourage younger students to take advantage of the people and equipment around them. You’re surrounded by art studios. You have all the supplies. When you ask for something, you get help.”
- Amanda is also interested in:
- Global Languages
Kim Kohler
On Amanda
“The first thing I noticed about Amanda even as a young child was that she was very, very creative. She was one of those kids who tried everything. She was fearless in choosing materials.
She’s in a good place here at Chadwick. She’s refined her skills. If she wants to learn something, she’ll take a class. All of her pieces increasingly show craftsmanship. That’s a sophisticated thing. I could tell from the very beginning she was one of these people who’d always have art in their life, if not make a career out of it.
We now know experiential education is the number one way people learn. You can’t learn how to make a painting without making a painting. One of the most important things we allow kids to do in our classes is fail. You have to fail to get better. If you’re zipping along, you’re not being challenged.
Most companies now are very interested in creative thinkers. They want to hear the people who say, 'What if?' Our visual arts program plays right into that. That’s what we say every day — what if? We want to have skills. We want to know about the art world and art history. We take field trips. Those things make our school unique.”