Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Von Riesen.
Amanda, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I grew up very interested in everything creative. I won school art contests at a young age. I wanted to paint professionally later on and grabbed supplies and just winged it! I was on a few art councils and art networks in Canada for many years, being involved in supporting other artists as much as I could. For me, always the greatest gift is a blank canvas, paint and time.
I’m a versatile visual artist, a singer-songwriter living in between Nashville TN, and Manitoba, Canada. My acrylic paintings are diverse in Abstract, Expressionism, and Realism. I’m also recognized for my pencil drawing and portraits. I have two amazing children, Mac and Kari. I’m so by blessed by them both and proud of who they are.
If you ask Amanda what drives her passion, it’s traveling and capturing her inspiration on film, writing and performing original music, and being a student of humanity. In fact, she has a new solo country music album coming out very soon… 10 songs that She’s written in the last year. Recorded here in Nashville. Previously in a band called poets & lies, but they kinda drifted apart when covid hit. Would still perform together though when opportunity hit.
Her first major recognition occurred in 2012, when her work, entitled ‘Young Minds,’ was chosen to be the focal point for the advertising and exhibition at Duluth’s Art In Bayfront Park. Since then, she has become a prolific artist in the local scene, providing original pieces for community events and galas. Growing a clientele for her commission-based work continues to be a success, whether creating for or collaborating with Grammy award-winning artists, or the neighbors next door.
I love being inspired so much, and often it feels like I’m flying when I’m on a high note.
Most recently her stylistic expressions have been guided by her true love of living, pursuing happiness and purpose.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Struggles would Include needing to start a painting and somehow finding the inspiration and facing my fears to get it to look on canvas as it looks in my mind. Also, I struggle with marketing my art.
I’m not too good at rounding up work. So, I feel so incredibly blessed when I get someone calling me and asking me to do a piece.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I was represented by Agora Art Gallery in NYC and was part of Unbound Perspectives show with 4 pieces of my art. This was their write-up about me.
AGORA GALLERY NYC says … For Amanda Von Riesen, painting is a way to interpret everything from music to poetry to her “passion for life and people.” She paints people, landscapes, still life tableaux, and emotional states of being, all of which are culled from her own life. Von Riesen’s personal experiences inspire her so directly that she sometimes portrays real-life people, such as in her portraits of Bruce Springsteen among others. As roving as her eye for subject matter is, Von Riesen is equally changeable in her technique. She paints mostly, though not exclusively, in acrylic on canvas, and uses brushes, tools, and her bare hands to make marks. She brings care and detail to every piece she makes, be it a realistic study of a guitar neck or a hallucinatory, collage-like image of turtles, musical notes, and a disembodied eye that is part-Dalí, part- film poster. Her abstract works revel in careful brushwork the same way her representational ones do. Von Riesen was born in Ste. Anne, Manitoba, Canada. She is also skilled in pencil drawing and portraiture…
I gave Bruce Springsteen a painting once on his birthday at a sold-out show in NEw jersey. I was First row; he came down and shook my hand and showed the band. It was in memory of Clarence, his sax player that died.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
To stay focused on all my Inspirations when I’m in the middle of a painting. It’s often very hard to start a painting and stop in between then revisit it and keep working it. It’s scary to me sometimes, hoping I don’t mess it up after I get a good feeling/vibe on it
Contact Info:
- Email: amandavonriesen@gmail.com
- Website: Amandavonriesen.com
- Instagram: Amanda Von Riesen Art
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amandastudioa
- Youtube: Poets & Lies
