Amanda Zappler

My name is Amanda Zappler. I began painting when I was 3 years old to illustrate simple stories I was writing. Art is my key to the secret garden, my way down the rabbit hole, my looking glass.

 I use art as a means of self-expression – I paint to identify with hidden qualities of my character, to better understand my reality, and to express my interpretation of the world around me. My goal is to use my paintbrush like Alice’s rabbit hole, to open an unexplored world, a place of curious self-expression, but also a world of new relationships, new chances, new beginnings, and most importantly new stories.

I attended a visual arts and performance art high school in Chicago called Lakeview Academy where I was fortunate enough to have two very instrumental teachers who prioritized my creative growth. I escaped much of the turbulence of being an angst-ridden teenager through my art.

Outside of my visual arts training in high school I have been self-taught. That is, unless you count the endless hours I spent at the Art Institute in Chicago gazing at the masterpieces on the walls, rather than attending my academic classes! I like to think that I absorbed some of the lessons in this craft by spending so much time in that awesome museum.

During high school, the only classes I really paid any attention to were art and theater. I simply wasn't interested in anything else. After high school, my visual arts passions took a back seat to working, raising two spectacular daughters and putting myself through school in order to achieve a doctorate in the allied health profession of audiology. For the past 10 years I have been able to recapture my passion for the arts and rekindle my interest in painting and illustration. It is like riding a bike, once you learn you can never forget!

I'm never far from a sketchbook or scrap paper, as I am constantly drawing and sketching, or at least thinking about drawing and sketching. Sometimes the drawings are left in the sketchbook, the bottom of my purse or backpack, or remain in my imagination, and other times they develop into more in-depth ideas and detailed images resulting in paintings. I primarily use gouache, pen, pastel and acrylics on a variety of surfaces. I love the bright colors and rich textures that occur when mediums are combined.

I hope my art conveys a sense of hopefulness and joy. I experience so much pleasure from painting that it is my desire to pass a bit of this along to the viewer. If a piece of my art work can bring a smile to someone as they pass by, then I have been successful!

I have had my artwork displayed in Austin area venues like Old Bakery and Emporium, Art Direct, Blue Sky on Wheels Gallery, Factory on 5th, F105 Gallery, Magnolia Café, Monkey Nest Coffee, Joe’s Generic Coffee, Wind Up Gallery at Terra Toys, Prima Dora, The Round Rock Arts Abstraction Show, Round Rock Arts Food for Thought Show, J Gallery, North Hills Gallery, Cypress Grill, Urban Hair Salon, Topaz Salon, Clinical Pathology Labs North Austin Medical Center, Orange Co-Working, and Duo Works Cooperative Work Space.

I have written and illustrated two children’s books and been the illustrator for two others.

I have also participated in area art festivals such as Sunset Valley Art Market, Austin Flea, Round Rock Chalk Walk, Austin Studio Tour, Whimsy and Wonder, Pride Fest, Chalk Walk, and the City of Austin Arts Council’s Downtown Holiday Stroll.