Amanda “Brooks” Skinner is a Kentucky-born artist currently based in Ipswich, Massachusetts, with a studio at Gallows Hill Artists in Salem, Massachusetts. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art from Transylvania University in 2013 and relocated to Massachusetts in 2014 for an internship at the Peabody Essex Museum. Over the past decade, Amanda has worked as a competitive swim coach, art educator, and museum professional, experiences that have shaped her creative discipline and commitment to the arts. In 2020, she completed her Masters of Arts In Teaching Art Education from Salem State University.

Her work has been exhibited in galleries and community spaces across Boston’s North Shore, and she continues to deepen her roots in the New England arts scene while drawing inspiration from both her Southern upbringing and her life along the Massachusetts coast.

Artist Statement

My work explores the tension between beauty and discomfort, using water as both subject and force of transformation. I'm drawn to themes of breath, distortion, and the fragile boundary between life and death, often blurring the lines between serenity and chaos. Through layered compositions and painterly abstraction, I push viewers to navigate spaces that feel both immersive and unsettling. By distorting familiar imagery, I challenge perception, inviting contemplation of what lies beneath the surface.

Artist Statement

Breached

Nautilus & Subs

Gutted Portraits

Landscapes

AZ Sketchbook