I’m interested in ecological moments that demonstrate the history, vulnerability and resilience of my local landscape: the native and the non-native species, the trees older than their resident cities, the patches of unruly forest that grow between manicured properties, the invasive species that dare grow on polluted lands. Since 2022, I paint my subjects from observation, en plein air, to better understand my relationship with my natural surroundings. Am I nature or outside of nature? Withstanding the natural elements of the landscape for a long painting session is exhausting, and in every attempt to leave no trace, my footsteps outlast my presence. Despite my reckoning, I can’t help but notice how my still and silent painting stance mirrors the posture of the tree; a healthy reminder that I, too, am a part of this ecological system.
Amanda Bittner (Previously Hawkins) is an award-winning painter living and working in Beverly, MA. She received her Bachelors of Fine Arts from Montserrat College of Art in 2014 and her Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Boston University in 2021. Amanda teaches at Montserrat College of Art and Endicott College alongside painting workshops at other institutions such as the deCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Cambridge Art Association, Sedona Arts Center and Rocky Neck Art Colony where she sits on the Board of Trustees. Amanda has a strong online presence and shares her creative practice with over 25K people worldwide via her Instagram blog. Amanda actively exhibits her work in galleries across the Northeast and has work in private art collections across the world. Amanda spent the month of January 2023 in residency at Penland School of Craft creating work for the shows: “The Lens Through Which We See” which opened in Tribeca, New York, “Following Traditions”, which she curated and coordinated at the Cultural Center at Rocky Neck Art Colony, and “Place” which opened in October at George Marshall Store Gallery in York, Maine.