About Amanta

Artist Statement

Through encaustic paintings, interactive sculptures, audio/video installations and workshops, I address urgent contemporary social issues. Core to my practice is connecting art with communities— inspiring people of diverse cultures, ages and walks of life to engage with art, share stories, and consider how it relates to their lives.

Canadian-born, I come from over ten generations of human rights activists, philosophers, rabbis, artists and refugees—engaging with questions about identity, sexuality, spirituality and social change. This too fuels my work. Uniting us all is the Jewish concept of Tikkun Olam: each individual’s responsibility to repair the world. 

Encaustic painting, practiced by Greek artists since 400 B.C, evolves through successive layers of molten beeswax, each fused to the previous one with a torch or iron. An active partner in my process, beeswax asserts itself texturally and sculpturally as I paint, layer, fuse, scrape, and re-work. This medium also embodies the multiple layers of meaning in my work. Drawing inspiration from personal experiences, psychology and mythology, particularly stories of archetypal females, I honour women’s strength and wisdom in the face of adversity.

My work celebrates visionary contemporary women of all ages, orientations, cultures and walks of life making a difference in our world today. Each painting’s title and story parallels a legendary heroine with a contemporary woman. By fusing the past with the present, I invite viewers to look at women in a new light, as a means to illuminate and address urgent contemporary social issues. 

I paint faces, recognizable yet abstracted, closeup so the viewer can look into their eyes without distractions and feel what remarkable people they are. In this way, I challenge traditional representations of women in art which normalize objectification and violence against women. Through dialogue, reflection and the power of art, I aim to inspire, provoke change, dismantle harmful narratives, and contribute to a more equitable society.

I have exhibited and performed in art galleries, museums, concert venues and festivals throughout Asia, North America and Europe including: National Gallery of Canada; Yilan Performing Arts Center, Taiwan; Singapore International Arts Festival; Canadian Embassy in Tokyo; Edmonton Art Gallery; World Trade Centres, Taipei and Barcelona; Royal Ontario Museum; Art Gallery of Ontario; Art Gallery of Algoma; Thunder Bay Art Gallery; Art Gallery of Peterborough; MacLaren Art Centre; Robert McLaughlin Gallery; Justina M Barnicke Gallery; Miles Nadal Gallery; Nuit Blanche Toronto and Orillia Museum of Art & History. I have directed workshops for refugees, newcomers, Indigenous people, students and seniors across North America and Asia; including Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts; and TASIS school in Dorado, Puerto Rico. With artworks in collections across North America and Asia, I have won awards, private and public art commissions, grants (Canada Council, OAC, TAC, Trillium); and Artist Residency fellowships (Government of Japan, Japan Foundation).

Additional Information

Exploring unity in our diversity, my projects provide a forum for dialogue and reflection; for both personal and public exploration, performance and meaningful self-expression; and for ongoing interaction and discussion between Artist and Public.

Visitors of all ages, cultures and socio-economic backgrounds frequently give way to tears, hug and thank me, and pour out stories of imprisonment and freedom; alienation, depression; isolation, community; desperation and hope. Visitors include themselves and their personal effects in her installations; and say they imagine themselves in my paintings.

I directed a six-month arts program touring youth-created performances and sculpture installations to festivals and seniors residences across Central Ontario, commissioned by Human Resources Development Canada; conducted a three-year project for Harmony Hall Centre for Seniors, with Chinese, Bengali, Tamil, West Indian and English-speaking seniors singing in each others’ languages; and have directed art workshops at Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts; TASIS School in Puerto Rico; Rexdale Community Hub, Toronto (conducted in eight languages); and in schools across Ontario, in Edmonton, Tokyo, and Taiwan.

Selected solo shows

commissions

Awards

education / PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

MUSIC    

• 1987 — University of Toronto, BMUS, Theory & Composition; York University, Jazz Piano

• 1995 — Ancient Voice: Tahara Junko: Tokyo, Japan

ART    

• 1995 — Noh Mask Carving: Master Classes with Fujio Fujimori: Tokyo, Japan

• 1990 — Sculpture - Central Technical School Art Centre

DANCE

• 2005 — Latin & Ballroom Dance: Love to Dance Studio;
  — Independent dance studies in Toronto

• 1995 — Ancient Dance: Takeko Sudo;
  — Butoh Dance Master Classes: Kazuo Ono: Tokyo, Japan

When not painting, sculpting or performing, Amanta Scott is a professional pianist, organist and teacher, with a unique and effective method centred on conscious success-based learning, and working with a metronome to cultivate musicianship, self-awareness and serenity.

Amanta Scott is the grand daughter of British composer Cyril Scott, as well as the Administrator for the Cyril Scott Estate and the official Cyril Scott website which she designed and maintains. For more information please visit www.cyrilscott.net . 

Other notable ancestors include: Moïse Allatini, Rose Laure Allatini, Darius Milhaud, Marcel Dassault and Darius Paul Dassault, Eric Allatini, Edith Porada, Solomon Loeb Rapoport and others.