I'm Amanda Wilner

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I grew up in Washington, DC, surrounded by a loving extended family on my Dad’s side. We would celebrate all the major Jewish holidays together at my Grandparents house.

My Grandmother was a ceramic artist and a super fashionista from Toronto. She was actually really down to earth and was one of my very best friends growing up. She taught me about ceramics and would take me to the East Wing of the National Gallery and talk to me about modern art. 

My Mom also has a very artistic side and was an interior designer and bedding manufacturer. So when it turned out that I loved art, it wasn’t a huge problem and I was encouraged to learn more. When I went to college, I studied "Design of the Environment" , their undergraduate architecture program. I was hoping to be practical, you see. I still managed to take a sculpture class and I went abroad my junior fall semester to Italy, so things worked out great. My father has become somewhat of my "creativity advisor".

Interesting Jobs I've had:

I worked for the forest service out of McCall, ID clearing trail. 

I built Earth Ships -self sufficient solar homes- in Taos, NM. (The work was very labor intensive).

I worked for Alternative Youth Adventures, in Southern Utah. I hiked and camped with Adjudicated Youth teaching them primitive survival skills. "Hood in the Woods".

Later, I studied art in several places but I didn’t really start painting until I was 36. Painting is actually pretty technical and a real skill, if you want to do it in a realistic way. I’m enjoying expressive brushwork and realism mostly through the animal portrait.

...“There is a sculpture-like essence to her paintings: a singularity and a completeness. It’s as if Wilner has painted the sides and the back of the piece although no one can see it.”--Michele Corriel

Amanda Wilner was born in Philadelphia in 1970, grew up in Washington, DC, and now lives and works in Corvallis, MT. She graduated from The University of Pennsylvania in Design. Later, Amanda trained at the New York Studio School in Sculpture and Drawing, where she received the Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation Grant.  Amanda holds a Masters of Fine Arts from Utah State University in sculpture where she received The Larry Elsner Sculpture Scholarship.  From 2000 to 2006, Amanda was a lecturer of art and design at The University of Michigan among other Universities. Since moving west in 2009, Amanda’s work has been in The Western Museum's prestigious Cowgirl Up Show, The Missoula Art Museum, The Yellowstone Art Museum and in galleries across the country. Currently, Amanda is an exhibiting artist at the Radius Gallery, Missoula, MT and The Cawdrey Gallery, Whitefish, MT.