Amanda Thompson is an artist from the UK, now living and working in Japan.
She works in analogue and digital formats. Computer graphic skills were first acquired at a Japanese business school. Early graphics work was featured on Japanese TV and exhibited in Tokyo.
In digital artwork she uses computer software to work drawings and photography into graphic art designs.
In analogue artworks she prefers collage, watercolour, ink and coloured pencils. And hybrid works combine any of the above.
Analogue collage pieces on the site are made from newspapers, magazines and books sourced from Japan, Europe and the US. Japan is country that prizes paper in all aspects of life: paper art, paper money and origami. Digital collage pieces make use of Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.
Patterns, tessellations and geometry influence artwork. Amanda Thompson’s textile and pattern designs can be found separately here. Textile design seen on travels in Russia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Uzbekistan brought new ideas of colour and design. In her late teens music lessons at the London College of Music brought the bonus opportunity to browse fabrics at Liberty’s of London next door. Fabric and surface design from Japan, Asia and Africa were later sources of stimulation. With a foreign languages background visually different writing systems were always of interest. Family members proficient with knitting, lacemaking and tatting, as well as early computer technology, provided various experiences of building visual structures.
After receiving a BA from the University of Cambridge (Modern and Medieval Languages 1993) she worked in the Japanese education sector: teaching in universities, schools and business, while editing learning media for companies like BBC Worldwide. Visual arts themes shaped two postgraduate dissertations: MA in European Literature (University of Sussex 1997) and MSc in Digital Education (University of Edinburgh 2016).
Amanda Thompson can be contacted to schedule fun teaching, talks and corporate events, either in person or online. Any of these can be done in English, Japanese or German without an interpreter. Please use the contact page to ask about bookings or to commission work.