As part of the inaugural In/Between multi-arts festival, Amanda Browder’s Civic Sparkle exhibition activates one of RAM Downtown’s interior gallery spaces, inviting visitors to experience the artist’s large-scale textile work created with community-donated fabrics from a closer perspective. Civic Sparkle features portions of Browder’s earlier Power Plant Beloit installation, originally created for her alma mater, Beloit College, alongside behind-the-scenes content from the creation of Zig & Zag—the piece which adorns the outside of the museum. Together, these works highlight Browder’s collaborative, community-driven practice which celebrates shared creativity, memory, and the power of art to reimagine place.
Artist Bio
Born in Missoula, MT, Amanda Browder received an MFA/MA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She currently lives in Brooklyn, producing over 30+ large-scale fabric installations all around the world. Amplifying multiple voices, she collaborates with local community groups and sources her textiles from local donations. Exhibitions include: Triennale Brugge, Project 1: ArtPrize; Sioux City Art Center; SPRING/BREAK Art Fair; Nuit Blanche Public Art Festival/LEITMOTIF Toronto; Dumbo Arts Festival; Hirschhorn Museum; CounterPointe; White Columns, NYC; Nakaochiai Gallery, Tokyo. Published in Unexpected Art: Chronicle Books and Strange Material; Arsenal Pulp Press. She received her first NEA grant in 2016 with the Albright-Knox Art Gallery (Buffalo Art Museum) in Buffalo, NY, and later received two more, one in 2023 with the St. Charles Art Center and 2024 with the Sioux City Art Center. In 2021 she was a NYSCA/NYFA artist fellow. Artist in Residence: UNLV Las Vegas, Erie Arts & Culture & Reach Projects. Photos and reviews have appeared in New York Times to Fiber Art Magazine and founder of art podcast www.badatsports.com
