Amanda Heidt

 What does it mean for one (me) to PRACTICE?

Greetings from Chicago, Illinois. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Amanda Heidt and I am a social and cultural practitioner in the medium of printmaking and curating print media based exhibitions. I am currently in my first year of the low residency program at School of the Art Institute of Chicago. To obtain an MFA I have made the choice to give myself the opportunity to slow down and understand how practice is important in my narrative as an artist and as a true collaborator.

When starting to think about the global definition of what professional practice is to a creative, I firmly believe it starts with the understanding of the various forms of participation and listening. As a human who makes a daily choice to wear many hats this participation and active listening allows there to be a constant dialogue between myself as a participant in the creative process for others. Acknowledging the forms of communication, it allows for a form of professionalism to come into play. Although I cannot particularly relate to the words and term of professional practice, I do relate to the understanding that within my professionalism I am a social practitioner.

My social practice right now as a printmaker allows for me to be an educator at both a community and higher academic level, create publications for both non printmakers and printmakers, honor artists through residencies and a visiting artist, along with continuous collaborate with departments and other humans in the honor of printmaking. Both studios that I manage carry out the mission to be spaces that are safe for one to conduct themselves in a  cooperative and collaborative way so they know they are a part of the collective and the history with how the space is constantly moving and changing.

Outside of the social practice that happens daily it is important to acknowledge I am an artist myself. I create through the mediums in printmaking both traditional and contemporary processes, book arts, papermaking, and natural dyeing techniques. Being given the time to focus on my own work I am starting to truly understand how my social practice directly affects my own studio practice as an artist. As I take the time to step away from my social practice to give myself personal artistic time, I am starting to notice this web that I started to weave for the past fifteen years. Within this web I allow for process, color, harmony, and naturally occurring spaces to replicate what I find to be sacred spaces that ultimately make up my own mythology as an artist.

Through this blog I will be contributing to the dialog of the web I have created in my social practice as a studio manager and curator which directly informs me as an artist for myself and for other people. I will further explore my imagery that tends to lean towards traditional prairie landscapes. It is my connection to my life on the prairie and the state of being. Being ok, comfortable, and breathing within these spaces as a practicing artist and social practitioner in my community.

“It is a fact that myths work upon us, whether consciously or unconsciously as energy – releasing, life motivation, and directing agents.” Joseph Campbell

 Forms of participation in social and my own practice:

• Observational

• Directed

• Creative

• Collaborative