Biography

Amanda is a collaborative community practitioner and artist who creates meaningful and impactful art while affecting the environment and communities as kindly as possible. Born in Bolton, North West England, Amanda is a member of the Horrockses weaving pioneers, and her passion for textiles is evident in her work.

Specialising in creating ecologically friendly art that engages culturally without guilt, she uses 'repurpose, reuse, and recycle' as a guiding principle.  With over 20 years of experience working with under-served communities, her qualifications in creative therapy, mental health first aid, anxiety management and psychotherapy have made her a genuinely person-centred practitioner in her field.

Amanda has collaborated with various organisations, including Turner Prize 2021, Array Collective, City of Culture, Daniel Lismore, Walking Forest, Imagineer, Project Art Works, Museum of Youth Culture, the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, 'Divided Selves', Arts Council NLPG, 'Dippy the Dinosaur', the Festival of Quilts 2023 and, 'Sanctuary 2022: A Covid Memorial.'

A textile passion started in her teenage years, when she won the Susan Mary Simpson Art Prize and Bolton School Prize for Textiles, opting for a Bachelor of Science Degree in Textile Design and Design Management at Manchester (UMIST).  She has rummaged through her obsession gaining a course prize; an Umbro Design Award; being nominated in a shortlist of three organisations for the 'Family Friendly Museum Award 2022' in the 'Best Family Engagement Team' category by Kids in Museums; runner up in the Coventry and Warwickshire Business Awards' category for cultural innovation for the Turner Prize 2021 legacy project - Coventry Banner; and, nominated by the people of Coventry as a 'person in the city that is putting connection and belonging at the heart of what you do.' Community Champion (Individual) Award - Cov Cares Awards.

Her work is inspired by Lorina Bulwer, Agnes Richter, Jean Michel Basquiat, Babs Behan, Alice Fox, and the Common Threads Project.  Amanda creates art using textiles, weaving, embroidery, printing, and repurposing discarded and lost objects to encourage everyone's innate art ability to express emotion, feeling, mood, and memory.  Her connection to waste, unwanted, and misplaced objects of people echoes the states of numerous, making her work resonate with audiences worldwide.