Artist SPOTLIGHT
AMANDA WEYGAND Local artists invigorate the community with thoughtful, creative pieces. Each issue, Starved Rock Country Magazine and Starved Rock Country Community Foundation are partnering to highlight artists and their work.
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26 | Spring 2022 • Starved Rock Country
f you’ve seen an exhibition, taken a class, hosted a birthday party or browsed the artisan shop at Open Space Art Gallery and Studios, you already have a connection to Amanda Weygand. The Ottawa native founded the gallery and studio space as a communal, accessible area for fellow Illinois artists to collaborate and display their work. “The gallery is everything I hoped it would be and more,” says Weygand. The idea came from her time getting her bachelor’s degree in fine arts at Illinois State University. “I had my own studio at the school with other BFA students and for the first time in my life, I felt like I found my tribe,” she says. “When I graduated, I knew I would be losing that and that’s when the idea to create a makers space in Ottawa came about.”
Weygand’s personal work revolves mostly around photography and acrylic or oil paints, though she also works with sculpture. “I’m influenced by ideas about what happens when one lets go of materialistic objects and begins focusing on the soul and our oneness with nature.” She enjoys spending time with her children in Starved Rock Country: “We kayak and camp regularly. Immersing myself in nature helps my mood and my creativity.” This year, she hopes to challenge herself with using more color, focusing more on sculptural work and even creating more installations or works that allow for public interaction. “Artwork helps express a community’s values and creates an elevated sense of awareness for community members and visitors,” she says. “Public art creates inclusion and S R cultural diversity in a community.” C
