AMANDA MEANS
ARTIST BIO 2021
AMANDA MEANS was raised in a small Upstate New York farming community. She moved to New York City in 1976. The country/city duality she experienced upon moving to this crowded, urban environment is reflected in her several ongoing series – early tangles of underbrush, leaves, flowers, light bulbs (both black and white and color Polaroid which she termed “flowers of the city”), water glasses and most recently, abstractions. She explores how the mysterious presence of natural forces can be found in the most unexpected places.
EDUCATION includes:
BA, Cornell University, 1969
Zone System Workshops, Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY, 1971, 1972
MFA, SUNY Buffalo (Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, N.Y.), 1978
Apeiron Workshops, (intensive study with Ralph Gibson), Millerton, NY, 1979
SELECTED COLLECTIONS include:
Nicola Erni Collection, Switzerland
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA
Wadsworth Athenaeum, Hartford, CT
Whitney Museum of American Art, NY, NY
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
MIT List Visual Arts Center, MIT, Boston, MA
Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY
Whitehead Collection of Art, Boston, MA
W.M.Hunt - Collection Dancing Bear, NYC
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, Bradford, England
Ralph Gibson Collection, NYC
Aaron Siskind Collection, NYC
ONE-PERSON EXHIBITIONS include:
Light in Its Own Language, (2-person exhibition), The Merchant House, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2023)
Amanda Means and Jaanika Peerna, (2-person exhibition), New York Estonian House, New York, NY (2022)
Light Years!, University Art Gallery/University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, New Bedford, MA (2021)
FOLDED REFOLDED CRUSHED CRACKED, Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA (2018)
Biophilia, Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, NY (2015)
Glass + Light, Joseph Bellows Gallery, La Jolla, CA (2013)
Glass + Light, Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, VA (2011)
Third Floor Bergdorf Goodman, NYC (2009)
Grounds for Sculpture, Trenton, NJ (2009)
Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA (2009 2011)
Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, NY (2009)
Amanda Means Polaroid Light Bulbs, Bergdorf Goodman, NYC (2008)
Ricco/Maresca Gallery, New York, NY (2008)
St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN (2008)
“Looking at Leaves,” The Harvard Museum of Natural History, Cambridge, MA (2008)
Gallery 339, Philadelphia, PA (2008, 2006)
Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA (2000, 2003)
Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, NY (2003)
HastedHunt Gallery, NY, NY (2001)
Metta Galeria, Madrid, Spain (1999)
Ricco/Maresca Gallery, NY, NY (1998)
Gremillion Co., Houston, Texas (1998)
Zilkha Gallery, Center for the Arts, Wesleyan University, Middlebury, CT (1983)
GROUP EXHIBITIONS include:
ULTIMATE, Phillips London, London, UK (2023)
Mother Earth: Nature, Nurture & Fertility, Bull Farm 1856, Rock Tavern, NY (2022)
Ultimate, Phillips London, London, UK (2020)
Ultimate, Phillips London, London, UK (2019)
Wild Things: Disrupting the Photographic Archive, CEPA Gallery, Buffalo, NY (2020)
View Find 8, 2019, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA (2019)
The Extended Moment, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada (2018)
Singular Repetitions, University Art Gallery/University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, New Bedford, MA (2017)
VIEW FIND: Photography, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA (2017)
Black and White, Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, NY (2017)
Women in Colour, Rubber Factory, NYC (2017)
Chemistry – Explorations in Abstract Photography, Garrison Art Center, Garrison, NY (2016)
In Focus, Flynn Gallery, Greenwich, CT (2014)
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem (2006)
Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati, OH (2006)
Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY (2003)
Pamela Auchincloss Project Space, NYC (2001)
Islip Art Museum, Baldwin, NY (2001)
Richard Brush Art Gallery, St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY (1999)
Zelda Cheatle Gallery, London, UK (1999)
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX (1999)
Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY (1999)
Dorsky Gallery, NYC (1999)
Pace University Gallery, Pleasantville, NY (1999)
International Center of Photography, NYC (1997)
TEACHING AND LECTURING includes:
SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz, NY, Lecture on Andy Warhol and John Coplans (2017)
f295 Symposium, Pittsburgh, PA (2015)
Flynn Gallery, Greenwich, CT (2014)
Harvard Museum of Natural History, Cambridge, MA (2008)
Hartford Art School, Hartford, CT (2004)
Pratt Institute, NY, NY (2002)
University of Memphis, Memphis, TN (2001)
International Center of Photography, NY, NY (2000)
St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY (1999)
Emily Carr College of Art and Design, Vancouver, BC, Canada (1992)
University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada (1992)
PUBLICATIONS include:
n+1 Editors. “The Best of a Bad Situation,” n+1 Online Magazine, Issue 33: Overtime, Winter 2019
Heller, Steven A. “Point of Departure: Three Abstract Photographers,” Black & White Magazine, April 2018
HAF Editors. “The 2017 Guggenheim Photography Fellows: Continuing a Tradition of Greatness,” Humble Arts Foundation, May 2017
Joyner, Hermon, Monaghan, Kathleen, “Focus on Photography,” Davis Publications, Inc., 2016: 231.
F295 Editors. “An Interview with 2015 Speaker Amanda Means,” http://f295.org
Yarling, Ben. American Chordata, pp. 131-193, in Frank Light’s short fiction, “Food for Work.” Fall 2015
Cyr, John, “Developer Trays”, powerHouse Books, 2014: 78.
Wilson, Edward O., Hass, Robert, “The Poetic Species,” New York, Bellevue Literary Press, 2014, cover photograph.
Hunt, W.M., “The Unseen Eye – Photographs from the Unconscious,” Aperture Foundation, 2011: 158, 159.
Hirsch, Robert, “Exploring Color Photography – From Film to Pixels,” Fifth Edition, Focal Press, 2011: ii, 117.
Zaleski, Jeff. “Portfolio: Amanda Means,” Parabola Magazine, November 2010
Gomez, Edward M. “Black and White and Filled with Light,” Fluence, July-August 2010
McQuaid, Cate. “John Coplans + Amanda Means: Distilled,” Boston Globe, 2009
Hall, Scott. “In Focus: Amanda Means,” The New York Times. Sept. 2008
Feeney, Mark. “Another Green World: Amanda Means’s luminous photographs of leaves make nature look almost extraterrestrial,“ Boston Sunday Globe, 2008
Hirsch, Robert, “Light and Lens – Photography in the Digital Age,” 2008: 7.
Philadelphia Inquirer, “Glowing Technique,” 2006
Hirsch, Robert, “Exploring Color Photography – From the Darkroom to the Digital Studio,” Fourth edition, 2005: i, 251.
Photo District News (PDN). Cover Photograph, April 2004
Mills, Christopher. “Light in January,” Boston Phoenix, 2003
Dykstra, Jean. “Light Moves,” Photo District News, August 2002
Miller, J. Abbott. “Just Bulbs,” 2wice Visual and Performing Arts, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2002
Ackerman, Diane, “Oprah Magazine,” The Brain, 2002: 166.
Rexer, Lyle, “Photography’s Antiquarian Avant-Garde – The New Wave in Old Processes,” New York: Harry Abrams, 2002: 140, 141.
Fyfe, Joe. “Amanda Means at Ricco/Maresca, 2001
The New Yorker, Images from exhibition at Ricco/Maresca, 2001
McQuaid, Cate. “John Coplans: Self-Portrait Finger and Amanda Means: Plant Light,” The Boston Globe, 2000
Means, Amanda. “Oliver Boberg,” BOMB, No. 72, Summer 2000
White, Lisa, Vieillevigne, Alessandra, editors, “bloom,” France, United Publishers S.A., 1999: 64. 65.
Means, Amanda. “Janet Zweig,” BOMB, No. 66, Winter, 1999
Sherman, Mary. “Botanicals’ Plants Compelling Images,” The Boston Globe, 1999
Harper’s Editors, Harper’s Magazine, November, 1998:32
Means, Amanda. “Douglas Beube: Exodus, 1995, An Altered Book,” BOMB, No. 58, Winter, 1997
Means, Amanda. “Memory of Loss,” BOMB, No. 59, Spring, 1997
Means, Amanda. “An Interview with Maureen Connor,” BOMB, No. 29, Fall, 1989
Aletti, Vince. “Voices Choices,” The Village Voice, March, 1989
O’Reilly. “Past, Present, Future,” The Village Voice, 1988
BOMB, Cover Photograph, No. XIII, Fall, 1985
Whelan, Richard. “Amanda Means: Zilkha Gallery,” ARTnews Magazine, 1983
RELATED PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE includes:
Recipient 2017 Guggenheim Fellowship
Contributing Editor, BOMB Magazine (1985-present)
Master black and white photographic printer specializing in oversize prints (1985-1995). Printing clients include Robert Mapplethorpe, Roni Horn and Francesca Woodman
Trustee, The John Coplans Trust (2003-present)
Moved from Manhattan to Beacon, NY in 2007