Amanta Scott
In 1994 the Government of Japan - Agency for Cultural Affairs honoured Amanta with an Artist Fellowship Award which enabled her to live in Japan and study Japanese culture, music, art, theatre and dance.
During a year in Japan, Amanta lived in a traditional Japanese house in Fuchu, a suburb of Tokyo; and later in a one-room cabin on top of a mountain in the foothills of Mt. Fuji.
There she researched dragons; developed Japanese language skills; practiced Zazen in the local temple at sub-zero temperatures; conducted arts workshops for local students.
While in Japan, honoured with an Artist Fellowship from the Japan Foundation, she created the sound sculptures for Dragon Tango and created the textile work Tamashii no Kodama.
Amanta returned to settle in Toronto in December 2005.

June 2006 found her in Puerto Rico conducting a Syncretic Arts workshop, attempting to communicate in Spanish and getting hopelessly lost on frenetic expressways between Dorado and San Juan.

travel

Amanta has travelled extensively,
circumnavigating the globe several times.
She has chased dragons across England, Scotland, Wales, France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Poland, Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia, India, Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan.
In 1992, Amanta travelled through Yugoslavia - then on the brink of war, down to Albania and into Greece. It was a voyage that haunts her still.

Inspired by the ruins of Pompeii and Hercolano, Amanta was chased through the streets of Naples, Italy, by ardent scooter bandits, trying to break into her car while she was driving.

Rattled, she arrived in Berlin in time to experience the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The meeting of East and West Berlin coupled with the collapse of Yugoslavia inspired Amanta to create the phoenix sound sculpture installation - Arising Phoenix.
In 1996 she moved from a funky coach-house in downtown Toronto to a studio on the windy sunset shores of Lake Scugog. This became home base for nine years, from which she travelled across Canada and throughout Asia.
In 1998 the dragons lured her back to Singapore and Australia. The year 2000 found her in England, helping to sort out the estate of her grandfather - Cyril Scott, before wandering around Europe again; and in 2001 Amanta flew back to Taiwan on the wings of the phoenix sculpture Arising Phoenix.
© 2006 Amanta Scott
Revised: Mon, May 22, 2006