Amanda Matthews

Amanda Matthews was born in 1968 in Louisville, Kentucky. She attended Bullitt East High School in Mt. Washington, Kentucky and graduated in 1986. Matthews earned her Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art with a minor in Philosophy from the University of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky. She studied abroad in Paris, France in 1989 with the University of Louisville, studying Fine Art and Architecture while abroad.

Matthews is known for her award-winning work that honors women and celebrates diversity and inclusion. In 2019, she was selected to create a monumental sculptural installation titled, "The Girl Puzzle", in New York City on Roosevelt Island honoring investigative reporter Nellie Bly, which will be completed in 2020. [1] In 2018, her work honoring Alice Allison Dunnigan, the first African American female to receive White House and Congressional credentials, was unveiled at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., [2]

Matthews began her career as a painter and faculty member for the Louisville Visual Arts Association. She founded Wild Honeysuckle Studio in 1998,[3] which merged with Prometheus Bronze Foundry, LLC in 2009.

Matthews received her first grant as part of the Sister Cities International program and travelled to Mainz, Germany in 2006 to represent the City of Louisville, Kentucky and the United States during the tenure of Mayor Jerry Abramson. She participated in the Kunst in der Stadt, Kuenstlerarbeiten Public Exhibition at Gutenbergplatz, Mainz, Germany. Fourteen artists, two artists each from seven countries, were selected to participate. Her work while in Mainz was a permanent gift to the City of Mainz, Germany from the City of Louisville, KY. Later that year, she participated in the Kentuckians for the Commonwealth Appalachian Mountain Witness Tour for Artists and Writers in the fall of 2006,[4] which marked the beginning of her decade-long body of large scale bronze Dryads, titled Messengers.[5] In 2007, on Earth Day, she completed a 210' long Ephemeral Environmental Sculpture Installation, called Water is Life for the Louisville Zoo, an AZA and AAM Museum, with the help of 20 volunteers. Diane Heilenman, Visual Arts Critic for the Courier Journal stated, "The work, 'Water is Life,' fits the context of all her sculptures and paintings, which are often about environmental issues."[6]

In 2015, she founded the Artemis Initiative, an IRS approved 501(c)(3) Public Charity.

• 2019-2020: Monumental Sculptural Installation honoring Investigative Journalist, Nellie Bly, New York City, Roosevelt Island, titled "The Girl Puzzle" at Lighthouse Park,[1]
• 2016–2019: Life Size Bronze Portrait of Alice Allison Dunnigan for Russellville, Kentucky[7]
• 2015–2016: Life Size Bronze Portrait of Capt. Solomon Lee Van Meter Jr., pioneer aviator whose backpack parachute invention is featured in the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum, Washington, D.C., for the Aviation Museum of Kentucky Permanent Collection[8]
• 2014: Life Size Ancient Greek Boxer Olympian Bronze Reproduction, Jasmine Hill Gardens, a Public Botanical & Sculpture Garden & Museum, Montgomery, Alabama, Permanent Collection
• 2013: Bronze portrait of Dr. George Zach, retired conductor of Lexington Philharmonic installed in Singletary Center for the Arts, University of Kentucky Art Museum Permanent Collection[9]
• 2012: Good Shepherd Catholic Church Baptismal Font, Frankfort, KY, Roman Catholic Diocese of Lexington Permanent Public Collection
• 2010: Life Size Bronze Stephen Elrod Memorial Sculpture installed at Georgetown College in Permanent Public Sculpture Collection[10]
• 2009: St. Paul Catholic Church Baptismal Font, Lexington, KY, Roman Catholic Diocese of Lexington Permanent Public Collection[11]
• 2007: Louisville Zoo, an AZA and AAM Museum, 210' Ephemeral Environmental Sculpture Installation, Water is Life[6]
• 2006: City of Mainz, Germany Permanent Collection

• 2020 - Smithsonian Magazine: The Must-See Outdoor Art Installations of 2020[12]Amanda Matthews' The Girl Puzzle, New York City, listed 3rd on worldwide list of 9
• 2019 - C-SPAN: African American Journalist Alice Allison Dunnigan[13] Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, Dr. Nancy Dawson, Amanda Matthews, Soraya Dunnigan presented
• 2018 - Politics: First black female White House reporter gets Newseum statue, The Washington Post[14]
• 2018 - NATIONAL: Alice Dunnigan, First Black Woman To Cover White House, Gets Statue At Newseum, NPR, All Things Considered[15]
• 2018 - Alice Dunnigan, First Black Woman to Cover White House, Will Get Statue at Newseum, The New York Times[2]
• 2017 - Kentucky Historic Properties Advisory Commission approves life-size sculpture of Nettie Depp for Kentucky Capitol[16]
• 2016 – Dunnigan to be honored with bronze statue[7]
• 2016 – Aviation Museum to unveil bronze sculpture of aviation pioneer Van Meter[8]
• 2015 – Lexington sculptor seeks – and starts creating – more statues of notable Kentucky women, minorities, Lexington Herald Leader, Lexington, KY[17]
• 2015 – Appeared in Documentary Film, Dreamers and Doers: VOICES of Kentucky Women[18][19]
• 2015 – Restored Gratz Park 'kids' return to James Lane Allen fountain[20]
• 2013 – Dr. George Zach bronze portrait unveiled at Singletary Center for the Arts, in Lexington, KY, University of Kentucky Art Museum Permanent Collection[9]
• 2010 – Stephen Elrod Memorial bronze sculpture unveiled at Georgetown College[10]
• April 22, 2007 – Water is Life Ephemeral Environmental Art Installation at the Louisville Zoo, Courier Journal, Critics Pick by Diane Heilenman, visual art critic[6]
• July 2006 – Amanda Matthews (Fields) work featured in Germany's Der Mainzer Magazine
• May 2006 – Art World News magazine lists Amanda Matthews (Fields) on their Artists Worth Watching list.[21]

• List of sculptors
• List of female sculptors
• List of contemporary artists
• List of American artists 1900 and after
• List of 20th-century women artists

• Official web site