Hi, thanks for stopping by.

I'm Manda. Somehow managed to be born in Florida (central, east coast), raised in way upstate New York (Lake Ontario region) and now in the "Appalatchun" mountain region of western North Carolina.

You can see some behind-the-scenes shots on Instagram @awkwardbirdart

You can buy prints on the awkwardbirdart Etsy: https://awkwardbirdart.etsy.com

You can email me with any inquiries of any type: awkwardbirdart@gmail.com

I was born on the cusp year between Generation X and Millennials and somehow this instills a sense of pride in holding on to my luddite ways. I finally broke down and got an Instagram account a few years ago and there I describe myself as a feral Appalachian printmaker...that’s about right. I am passionately engrossed with how ink saturates fine papers. The follies and tribulations of printmaking are a self-flagellation I’ve come to call home.
 
This work gathers around an interest in how people interpret the same stimulus uniquely. I am curious about how individuals read vague information and fill in the blanks; differently, and, similarly, too. Specifically, I play on the expectation of the audience who are looking for some explanation or purpose when confronted with imagery which is traditionally understood through conventional coded data interpretation; diagrams, maps and even faces. When the sign hierarchy is reconstructed the message is confused, and often completely obliterated. By drawing on top of maps, creating fake charts of random data or digitally manipulating photographs to overwrite facial expressions I am redacting pertinent information. These evident visual modifications move the images to an undecipherable state, the antithesis of their originally intended purpose of concise information relay. Another recurrent theme that unites this work is the obsessive pointlessness. I became enamored with a deliberately monotonous process to create confused messages that fail to articulate their function. In the research that informed this work I wrote over textual instructions on floor plans, and painstakingly removed, one-by-one, each textual and numerical signifier within circuitry boards, maps, graphs and mechanical schematics ad nauseum.

CV
Amanda Gaebel
Contact: awkwardbirdart@gmail.com

Education

M.F.A. Fine Art, Western Carolina University, 2014
B.F.A. Studio Art; Printmaking and Oil Painting with Art History minor,
Magna Cum Laude, State University of New York at Oswego, 2007
B.A. Philosophy; Ethics and Metaphysics, State University of New York at Oswego, 2007

Professional Experience

Owner/Printmaker, Awkwardbirdart, Lake Ontario Region, NY and Appalachian Region, NC, 2010-Present
Founder and Executive Director, Appalachian Art Farm Nonprofit
Organization, Jackson, Macon and Swain County, NC, 2014-19
www.appalachianartfam.org

Adjunct Instructor; Introduction to Two and Three Dimensional
Design, Art Appreciation, Art History Survey II, Southwestern
Community College, Franklin, NC, 2014-17

Outreach Instructor; Intergenerational and Multi-Media Art, Bascom Fine Art Center, serving Jackson, Macon and Swain County, NC, 2014-16

Visual Arts Teacher; Grades 3-10, Advanced Art, Art Therapy and
Individual Private Lessons, Lake House Academy, Flat Rock, NC, 2014-15

Instructor-of-Record; Introduction to Two Dimensional
Design, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC, 2013-14

Printmaking Studio Technician, Graduate Assistant,
Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC, 2011-12

Print Production and Screenprinting, AVL Signs and Designs,
Watertown, NY, 2010

Printmaking Studio Technician, SUNY Oswego, NY, 2007-08

Graduate Teaching Assistantship for Michael Thomas, Printmaking,SUNY Oswego, NY, 2007-08
 

Solo Exhibitions

2019 "Mythos of Hair" Screenprint Portfolio, Morris St. Gallery, Sylva, NC

2018 "Small Things Noticed" Intaglio Portfolio, Morris St. Gallery, Sylva, NC

2017 Untitled exhibition of cyanotypes, White Door Gallery, Cecil B. Groves
Center, Southwestern Community College, Franklin, NC

2016 “Liberties Taken” The Skinny Gallery, Sylva, NC

2015 “Between These Lines”, White Door Gallery, Cecil B. Groves Center,
Southwestern Community College, Franklin, NC

2014 “Palimpsest” MFA Thesis Exhibition, Western Carolina University Art
Museum, Cullowhee, NC

2013 “Erasures” The Skinny Gallery, Sylva, NC

2011 “Incantations” Gallery 109, Oswego, NY

2008 “What Dreams May Come” Katmandu Gallery, Oswego, NY


Select Group Exhibitions

2022 “Extreme Pressure: Biennial of American Prints” Webber Gallery, College of Central Florida, Ocala, FL
Judge: Janet Ballweg
 
2022 “Printmakers’ Marks” Atlantic Highlands Art Council, NJ
Curator: Dave DiMarchi
 
2022 “Pressing Matters” Atlanta Printmakers Studio Members Exhibition, LRC Gallery, GSU Clarkston Perimeter College, Atlanta, GA
 
2021 “New Appalachia” Vestige Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
 
2019 “Unfinished Business” VAE Gallery, Raleigh, NC
 
2019 "Disfrutia" Sqid Ink Online Gallery, International

2019 "Pressing Matters" Atlanta Printmakers Studio Members Exhibition,Calabornne Art Center, Atlanta, GA

2018 "Esse Quam Videri" National Humanities Center, Raleigh, NC

2018 "It's Alive!" Book Works, Asheville, NC

2018 "Color" Contemporary Art Gallery, Online

2017 "Pressing Matters" Atlanta Printmakers Studio Members Exhibition Abernathy Arts Center and Paper Plane Gallery, Atlanta, GA

2015 “Because the Sky, Because” The Victoria, Art Farm Nebraska, Marquette, NE

2014 “MFA/BFA/RAD” The Tannery Gallery, Asheville, NC
 
2014 "MFA Pop-Up at the Fatty" The Fatty Gallery, Sylva, NC

2013 “Borders” Gallery 130, Cullowhee, NC

2010 "Lakeside-Statewide Juried Exhibition" Art Association of Oswego, NY

2010 “Happenstances” The Art Upstairs Gallery, Phoenicia, NY

2007 “BFA Thesis Exhibition” State University of New York at Oswego, NY

2007 “43rd Annual State University of New York at Oswego Juried Student
Exhibition”

2006 “Statewide Juried Student Show” State University of New York at Albany

2006 “42nd Annual State University of New York at Oswego Juried Student
Exhibition”

2005 “Everyday Dream: Translating the Moment” Hat Factory Art Collective,Oswego, NY


Awards and Grants

· Graduate Tuition Assistance Grant to help off-set out-of-state tuition costs of MFA program, 2011
· New York State Council on the Arts Community Enrichment Grant to
administrate the Art for Me! Program supporting outreach art workshops for
under-served members of the Oswego County community, 2009-10
· Graduate Diversity Award to help fund a Masters of the Art of Teaching K-12 Art Education degree, 2008
· Scholarly and Creative Award Grant for expenses associated with a solo
exhibition in a historical building in my hometown, 2007


Fellowships and Residencies

·Artist-In-Residence, Labyrinth Studios, 2022, Tampa, FL
· Artist-in-Residence, Appalachian Art Farm, 2019, Sylva, NC
· Artist-in-Residence, Art Farm Nebraska, 2016, Marquette, NE
· Graduate Studio Technician Fellowship, Printmaking Studio, 2007, Oswego,NY

 
Public Collections

The Schoolhouse, Marquette, NE
Stress Designs Inc., Syracuse, NY
Phillip Galaydick Contractors, LLP, Rodman, NY
Northern Federal Credit Union, NY


Press                
                                                                                                                             
· Contributing Artist in The Hand Magazine, Issue 36, May, 2022                                      
 · Kyle Sherard, “MFA BFA RAD: A Pop-Up Exhibition of New Works by 18 WCUStudents.” Mountain Xpress, April 30, 2014
· “43rd Annual State University of New York at Oswego Juried Student
Exhibition.” Photo Catalog, 2007
· “Art Exhibitions Bring In New Talent.” The Oswegonian, April 07, 2006
· “Quest ’06: A Symposium Research Presentation.” Symposium Catalog, April, 2006
· “42nd Annual State University of New York at Oswego Juried Student
Exhibition.” Photo Catalog, 2006
· “43rd Annual State University of New York at Oswego Juried Student
Exhibition.” Photo Catalog, 2007
· “Statewide Juried Student Show.” Photo Catalog, 2006