Amber Bryans

How did you first become interested in art?

I’ve always been interested in art! I grew up in a family that celebrated all creative arts, and as a child I enjoyed crafting and drawing etc. The arts were always a part of my life, and I knew that making/creating with my hands would always be there. 

But becoming a professional artist? There were a few pivotal moments that led to this career path. Most notably: my 19 year old self in a first year university painting class elective. My professor stopped at my work during a studio session and said something like, “Huh, you have a knack for this, you should keep painting in the future.” I then overreacted to this comment by making Visual Arts my whole undergraduate degree. 

How has your artistic education or training influenced your work?

My BFA really helped me to gain visual perception and understanding. It forced me to shift from making individual artworks to thinking more broadly: creating a “body of work” and developing skills and experimentation in a series over time. I gained a vocabulary to talk about art, “read” artworks, participate in critiques, and mainly to be able to think critically about my work. On the technical side, it was a good starting point for learning to set up strong compositions, colour mixing, use of scale, and getting familiar with my materials. 

What inspires your work today?

My work today is mostly inspired by nature. I paint landscapes, mainly, as well as monoprints from plants, and linocuts of birds. I make art about nature I see and places I interact with. I really appreciate images that are contemplative or meditative, and I try to bring those feelings to my work.  

What do you hope students take away from your classes?

I hope my students walk away with a few new skills, confidence to keep experimenting on their own, and ideas for things they want to try with their art.

How do you continue to grow as an artist?

Through curiosity, exploration, and showing up.

I spend time in nature, go see art, get to know other artists and ask them questions about how they do things. I experiment with new materials. I start projects that stretch the boundaries of my technical skills. I do exercises like making colour mixing charts to get to know my pigments better. I critique my own work as fair as I can and consider what I would like to do more of and what I would like to change next time. Also, I try to embrace the seasons and use summer for research with my sketchbook, and the winters for larger works in the studio. 

What is something people often misunderstand about art or creativity?

People often are way too hard on themselves before they’ve even started. They perceive a “good artwork” as the goal, and shoot themselves in the foot because there is no room for failure. The best creative sessions happen when the stakes are low and we don’t care about the outcome so much. 

For every amazing artwork online, there is a closet graveyard of art rejects and a sketchbook of experiments that came before it. And all of it has value. Technical skills can be learned over time with practice. Creativity comes with space to play. Turn off the inner critic and give it a try-permission to just mess around and make stuff.