Artist Story: Amanda Browder

Amanda Browder as a member of the Career Day Team: Chicago Public art group, performing part of the Sweep Day Project set for October 15th, 2005

I am a part-time teacher at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and have a not quite full-time job as an optician/buyer at a local optical boutique. This schedule allows me to survive as a professional artist in Chicago. The trick is, of course, to make enough money to live in the city while having the time and resources for studio work and art-related activities. I balance on the ancient dilemma of working artists: to pay the bills, and yet make art that is creatively successful and emotionally satisfying.

My good fortune has been to find jobs that have a creative and artistic component and yet pay enough to survive on. Teaching art is good because it forces me to communicate about art. Selling eyewear challenges me to help others understand their preferences for certain designs. Both jobs are work but they give me a feeling of accomplishment and provide me with an opportunity to see the art world from a broader perspective.

Trying to balance work and art deadlines is difficult for even the most adept juggler. The most successful strategy that I have used is keeping a high level of communication with my peers. For example, for my work with Career Day Team. This group is made up of two other artist/architect professionals who also have regular day jobs. To keep in contact with each other we use email as a written diary of new ideas or deadlines. Logging our ideas keeps us up to date on our group mission and helps us get the word out about future projects.

Outside of my collaborative work I also use the process of communication to get the word out about shows, and especially when looking for resources. Just like The CAR website, I find it important to help my fellow artist friends when they are looking for tools, grants, teaching positions etc. knowing they would do the same for me!

At my day job I also try to keep my employer up to speed on what I am doing artistically. Fortunately, I have a very supportive employer who understands my interest in being an artist, and is flexible when it comes to my work schedule.

I believe that the more art you make, the more progress you achieve and every artist should pursue their own level of achievement. That said, life continues to throw challenges at everyone, but especially at those who would define themselves as artists because they are explorers of that which is hidden.

Amanda Browder was born in Missoula, MT and moved to Chicago four years ago. She received her MFA from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the Fibers Department. She appreciates the transformative nature of materials and how the combination of familiar objects can create abstract relationships. These relationships generate open-ended narratives, and ambiguous situations that are defined by the choice of materials. Amanda is also involved in a collaborative public art group called Career Day, which is interested in the action of the artist in the city. She has shown at a variety of galleries such as Western Exhibitions Gallery and the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago, Lothringer Dreizen in Munich, Germany, and White Columns in New York.