Amanda Bradway

So last month we had a spot open up in the gallery that ended up being an unexpected blessing. Dylan and I are actually going to use the space for a small showing of our own work this month. Im putting together a few small works that will be inspiration for bigger pieces later on and Dylan is printing shirts that will be available for sale at the opening. If we dont run out of time, we plan on collaborating on a 2′X4′ panel available for sale at the opening.  The show will be May 14, during the Plaza’s 2nd Friday from 7-11pm.

Here is the first design of the spring/summer line. I was going to wait and debut these at the dustbowl artist market later this month, but I cant wait 3 more weeks so we put them in the shop in time for second Friday. It takes about a month or more to design, draw, clean, and print each graphic and I cant be that patient when they are here in a box staring at me.

The Octo girl is a reprint from last fall with different colors. We are making lots of changes around our space converting our small building into just retail and work space. Being uprooted is cutting into production and art making time so Im setting small workable deadlines for getting things done. Growing is fun, painful, and time consuming.

The gallery section of my site is about to feature some small works from late 2009. Some have asked where all the work went from previous years. Ive decided to keep it off for now, since Im going through a complete overhaul creatively. It’s been so long since Ive actively worked on my own art so to me the difference between 2 years ago and now is pretty drastic and I want to keep the seperation until the newer work is built up.

Here is the finished Fish lady that is the companion piece to the bird. It’s difficult to get the detail on camera, but there is metallic purple, green, gold, and silver around her head and glittery green scales on her legs. I took a break from the jewelry to finish it up and work on graphics for some spring/summer apparel. So far 3 graphics are in the works and I’m reprinting the Ocoto girl that’s been in store since October onto some tank tops. I’ll post the 1st new graphic next week.

These past couple weeks, Ive been working on some jewelry in anticipation of a trunk show maybe sometime this spring/summer. Here are a few samples of designs Im playing with. Necklaces come first and the bracelets will be next. The fish lady will be finished sometime next week and I hope to get it into Momentum OKC. The Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition staff and network are incredibly supportive people. When we first started getting involved in the art community they had invaluable information to share like ways to volunteer, apply for grants, a database of local artists, and several exhibitions to apply for during the year. Momentum is the most exciting event of the year both to participate and volunteer in. If you’ve ever asked yourself where all the artists in Oklahoma City are hiding go see it yourself, you’ll be blown away and encouraged by the numbers of artists and variety of work.

I started this next lady with a fish theme and she will be sort of a companion piece for the one in my last post.

This week I’m working on some new pieces of jewelry to put in the store for Valentines day. Bracelets are the most fun because you have more surface to work with, it’s like wearing a small painting around your wrist. Here’s a link to one of my favorite artists, Ive been wasting some of the day looking at all the new stuff he’s added Darbotz

I began, in the last part of 2009, to begin re-evaluating my creative process and coming up with new material after a nearly 2 year dry spell. The goal is to branch out and work in areas that were previously daunting and push myself to express more. I’m beginning 2010 with a brand new series in exploration of territory unfamiliar.

These first 5 pieces are being created on maple longboard decks with a variety of acrylic, paint pens and gel pens with graphite to ground it all. I’m not making any kind of statement with the decks, I just think the shape of these boards make a nice border around each piece.

The first finished piece is untitled so far.