A M A N D A B R O W D E R
BUILDING COLLECTIVE CREATIVE STRENGTH
TELLING STORIES
MAKING CONTEMPORARY ART ACCESSIBLE AND SITE-SPECIFIC.
MADE with LOCAL COMMUNITIES.
UPCYCLING DONATED FABRIC
NEWSEW
NEWSEW
Night
Rainbow
Buffalo Art Museum AKG - Buffalo, NY - part of the Hi-Vis Exhibition.
Public Sewing Days will happen all Nov/Dec 2024. Join us! - HERE IS THE SCHEDULE
The Buffalo AKG is excited to announce the return of fabric artist Amanda Browder to produce her newest installation in conjunction with the Public Art Initiative’s upcoming exhibition, Hi-Vis, opening in February 2025.
Similar to her previous Public Art project in 2016, Spectral Locus, Browder is once again inviting volunteers to help pin and sew large swaths of fabric to create the artwork during upcoming community sewing days. Your assistance will contribute to the concept of the artwork by connecting communities through a shared creative purpose, building on a social textile tradition of togetherness and belonging.
NiGHT RAINBOW
Workshop Schedule
November Events
November 13, 2:30–6 pm, Central Library, West Room
November 14, 10 am–3 pm, Buffalo AKG, North Sculpture Terrace
November 15, 4–7:30 pm, Buffalo AKG, Wilson Town Square
November 16, 10 am–4 pm, Buffalo AKG, North Sculpture Terrace
November 17, 10 am–4 pm, Buffalo AKG, North Sculpture Terrace
November 18, 10 am–5 pm, Stitch Buffalo *Registration required
November 21, 10 am–3 pm, Starlight Studio
November 22, 10 am–3 pm, Starlight Studio
November 23, 12–4 pm, Kenmore Library
November 25, 10 am–5 pm, Stitch Buffalo *Registration required
November 29, 4–7:30 pm, Buffalo AKG, Studio A
November 30, 12–4 pm, Buffalo AKG, Studio A
December Events
December 1, 10 am–3 pm, Buffalo AKG, North Sculpture Terrace
December 2, 10 am–3 pm, Buffalo AKG, North Sculpture Terrace
December 5, 10 am–3 pm, Buffalo AKG, North Sculpture Terrace
December 6, 10 am–4 pm, Buffalo AKG, Wilson Town Square
JULY 2023 > SEPT 2024
https://siouxcityartcenter.org/exhibition/amanda-browder-razzle-dazzle/
SIOUX CITY ART CENTER - @siouxcityart has been approved for a Grants for Arts Projects award from @neaarts (NEA) to support @browdertown newest textile sculpture “Razzle Dazzle.” This project was selected by the NEA during the most recent round of Grants for Arts Projects fiscal year 2023 funding. “Razzle Dazzle” has also received generous financial support from the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation. Receiving funding from two prestigious, nationwide granting agencies is a remarkable achievement for the Art Center Association of Sioux City, the private organization that raises funds for activities produced by the Art Center.
“Razzle Dazzle” will be an unforgettable, site-specific, textile installation created by local participants led by Brooklyn-based artist Amanda Browder. Using fabric that will be collected from dozens of recycled, donated, or locally sourced origins, Browder will work directly with volunteers and artists to construct a brightly colored, monumentally sized “quilt” that will be draped over large portions of the Sioux City Art Center building and its Gilchrist Learning Center. The resulting patchwork will display the work and process of creating the quilt but, even more importantly, it will represent the community that built the piece. The spectacle that it produces will act as a stage to stimulate dialogue across civic and cultural boundaries, transforming a Sioux City landmark extraordinary ways.
Curator @eyesears says, “We’re thrilled and can’t wait to get started!” While fundraising efforts for this massive project continue, work will begin this summer, with Browder onsite during ArtSplash 2023. The completed project will be installed in time to be celebrated 30 years of ArtSplash in 2024.
METROPOLIS SUNRISE - October 2022
ArtsWestchester and Amanda Browder are thrilled to announce the unveiling of Metropolis Sunrise this October 2022. After two years of collectively enduring the COVID-19 pandemic we have come back to install this work that so many of us participated in! THANK YOU for ALL YOUR SUPPORT and PARTICIPATION!
This is a CELEBRATION of YOU and the COMMUNITY that came together!!
“Metropolis Sunrise”
This project is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
“ Artist Amanda Browder’s community art project has been three years in the making. The monumental fabric sculpture, which will be draped along the front of ArtsWestchester’s historic building at 31 Mamaroneck Avenue, was started in 2019 before being halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now it will officially be unveiled during the Serious Fun Arts Fest next week. Metropolis Sunrise was created with repurposed fabrics sourced from community members who also helped to cut, pin and sew together 10,000 square feet of fabric. In all, nearly 1,000 people helped to assemble the six-stories-high artwork, which has become a beacon of cultural engagement in the community.” - ArtsWestchester
SERIOUS FUN ARTS FEST is music, art exhibitions, murals, outdoor sculptures, and more… make sure to walk around and see all the talented creative works!
Click the image to begin listening to the interview with local quilter, Barbara Glab. See images of her quilts and learn about her love of sewing.
In Episode 2, Aaron interviews Amanda Browder about Metropolis Sunrise and the history behind her work.
storytelling …
ArtsWestchester and Aaron Paige : Director of Folk and Traditional Arts created this amazing podcast about some of the amazing people of Westchester, NY.
“Sewing Community is an ArtsWestchester podcast where quilters, tailors, fashion designers, garment industry workers, and fabric/textile artists from Westchester, NY share personal stories and family histories related to sewing and fabric. ArtsWestchester, the officially designated arts council for Westchester County, is working with Amanda Browder, a Brooklyn-based fabric artist, to transform a 9-story building in downtown White Plains into a cascading colorful, large-scale fabric installation called METROPOLIS SUNRISE. All of the stories heard in this podcast are from individuals involved in the building of this monumental work of public art. While this project is currently on hold because of COVID-19, our hope is that these stories, will in some small way, sustain and deepen the social fabric of community.”
Public Participation
AMANDA BROWDER : Short documentary about the American artist Amanda Browder and her work "Happy Coincidences" for the Bruges Triennial 2021. Filmed by young videographers Maïm Dedeene, Andres Vandepitte and Julian Devos. JONG VOLK X TRIËNNALE BRUGGE: SHORT DOCUMENTARY
Fabric unites stories, amplifies voices and creates moments of meaning. This work supports non-hierarchical formulations of craft vs. art, and fosters community participation through sewing and dialogue. Socially based constructs in the public realm inform my work in tandem with my delightful bag-of-tricks: mathematics, color, symmetry, scale and people who are always my truth. The dialog between craft and art is in the work, complementing criticality, and conversation in a site specific response.
My approach signifies that “The artist” is not one, but rather an evolving network of participants and spectators. Sculptural gesture and painterly pause are challenged by the fluidity of textiles paralleling craft history in which most artists remain anonymous, the work transcends individual identity to become an expression of a focussed social collective.
Sewing together + Public sewing days +
Sewing together + Public sewing days +
Happy Coincidences (2021) - Brugge, Belgium - Triennale Brugge
Metropolis Sunrise (2019) - ArtsWestchester- White Plains, NY
Chromatopia (2018) - Stratton Elementary School- Urbana/Champaign, IL
Land of Hidden Gems (2019) - Las Vegas, NV - UNLV - Donation Poster
Land of Hidden Gems (2019) - Las Vegas, NV - UNLV
Spectral Locus (2016) - Buffalo, NY - Albright Knox Art Gallery
Spectral Locus (2016) - Buffalo, NY - Albright Knox Art Gallery - Fabric Donations
Spectral Locus (2016) - Buffalo, NY - Albright Knox Art Gallery - Public Sewing Day at Starlight Studios
Happy Coincidences (2021) - Brugge, Belgium - Triennale Brugge - Public Sewing Day at House of Time
Land of Hidden Gems (2019) - Las Vegas, NV - UNLV - Transition Services Inc.
Our City Sunshine (2021) - St Charles Arts Council, St Charles, IL - Public Sewing Day
Chromatopia (2018) - Stratton Elementary School- Urbana/Champaign, IL
Happy Coincidences (2021) - Brugge, Belgium - Triennale Brugge - Public Sewing Day at House of Time
Electric Diner (2018) - Diner NYC - Public Sewing Day at the Polish/Slavic Community Center
Our City Sunshine (2021) - St Charles Arts Council, St Charles, IL - Public Sewing Day
Chromatopia (2018) - Stratton Elementary School- Urbana/Champaign, IL - Drawings by the students making their own designs!
Happy Coincidences (2021) - Brugge, Belgium - Triennale Brugge - Public Sewing Day at House of Time with Oranje Group
Metropolis Sunrise (2019-2022) - ArtsWestchester Public Sewing Day
Metropolis Sunrise (2019-2022) - ArtsWestchester Public Sewing Day
Metropolis Sunrise (2019-2022) - Ossining Public Library Public Sewing Day
Metropolis Sunrise (2019-2022) - Katonah Art Museum Public Sewing Day
Metropolis Sunrise (2019-2022) - The James F. Galgano Building Sleepy Hollow Senior Center Public Day
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Amanda Browder’s projects are large-scale fabric installations that are draped over large-scale buildings or structures, where the fabric is donated by the citizens of the city where the piece is displayed, as well constructed and sewn by local volunteers from the area. It is a celebration of location, community, sustainability and the self-beautification and celebration of a town.
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Amanda understands that fabric has coded and emotional associations for everyone; it clothes us, touches our skin, keeps us warm, and gives us confidence and comfort, among other things. The production of the work and the resulting tactility play an important role in how people address and interpret the work, and is very appropriate for a space associated with reinvention and absorbing culture.
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The resulting monumental fabric sculpture will add something visually bright to a building people of the community have seen over and over again throughout the years, thereby adding new perspective and appreciation for the space. Amanda’s pieces are known to change people’s concept of their daily environment. The result is an open invitation for meaningful conversation with which the public can engage.
P R O C E S S
