We were lucky to catch up with Amanda Fairbanks recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Amanda thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

There are certain projects that become special because they are the ones that make you want to keep going. The experience of working on the Grand Rapids windows project became significantly meaningful to me. After riots had left broken windows throughout the downtown areas, I joined a group of volunteers to paint on the boarded up parts of the windows in an effort to bring healing and love back to a hurt place. It was the first opportunity I had to be amongst other local artists as a collective. We were all present to leave a message through art. The outcome of this event brought lasting artistic connections on professional and personal levels. Most importantly, this project inspired me to think in a grander scale about arts role in a community and where I fit into that puzzle.

Amanda , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I really enjoy the freedom of a blank canvas, wall or space. There is a calling to create and fill in those blanks with imagery to please myself and others. My paintings are usually recognizable as being a whimsical, surreal type landscape, quirky animal, or people represented by children in raincoats.

One of my favorite places to be is off in a day dream, getting lost in my imagination. I use paint as a medium to play with, sort out, and communicate those dreamed up ideas. Something I really enjoy is the satisfaction of completing a painting that allows a viewer to get lost in a vision and internal story. I have been creating commissioned paintings called “Cosmic Cabins” for others by using a questionnaire to dive deep into their expectations and thought lines. Through this process I have been able to bring completely unique and personalized worlds to life for them by combining their answers with my interpretations. It is always a fun exercise that has produced some very wonderful and personal art pieces.

I find my goals to be ever growing and shifting for what I want to achieve with artwork and my creative side. I’m not sure what comes next, but I am certain that if I can keep creating, what is right for me will continue to find me. This year I am continuing to work on custom paintings but I have also stepped into a vendor role as well. I spent the day with other creative at the Division Art & Culture fest in Grand Rapids and was able to sell prints of some of my most favored paintings. This is a new scene with a lot of areas for growth for me, Im looking forward to more chances to get out there with people and connect over my creations!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I cannot remember a time in my life when I didn’t have the love of creativity or desire to paint. However, I did have a fear of being unable to support myself on creative pursuits alone. I pivoted from applying my creativity in an artistic sense to applying it through a healing path. I went to Western Michigan University and graduated with a Masters of Occupational Therapy. I found a lot of opportunity for creative growth and abstract thinking while connecting with individuals to improve their circumstances. I absolutely adored being a clinician. In my spare time I continued to paint and create artworks as well. (And we all have this line in our story) Then 2020 hit. I found myself in a professional world I no longer recognized or thrived in. Many factors came in to play all at once and by January 2022 I had pivoted my focus to art on a full time basis. Not only was I finding healing through pursuing art and painting, I was finding success and a new community that was helping to get me inspired again. My heart is still open to entering the healthcare world someday, but at this moment in my life I am so thankful for the chance to create at home, being watched by my chickens through the window, and present as my two little children grow.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I struggle to think of any one as being a “non-creative” because life demands us to all have a sense of creativity. The falling into place of ideas to successfully achieve an objective is universal in many ways. The thing that I understand about the brain is that each of us has different ways of integrating our outside world and making sense of it. For some, that may be through numbers, social navigations or efficient set ups. For me it is through a visual curiosity and processing where I find my flow and satisfaction. The journey differs on the method to achieve that “ah-ha” moment in that I use a paint brush, but the underlying motivation is consistent for anyone seeking it.     

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @abanx.art
• Facebook: facebook.com/abanxart
• Email: [email protected]

Image Credits
Jacky Petters