Amanda Jephson - Fine Artist - South Africa

As a fine artist I practice traditional, "low-tech" methods of art production in drawing, painting, intaglio relief printmaking and paper sculpture. Paints and graphic mediums include oil and acrylic painting, ink, graphite, mixed drawing mediums and printmaking techniques. Paper sculpture has been a recurrent fascination of mine, and I use hand painted paper as a sculptural medium.

Works on canvas, paper and board include a wide range of subjects from landscapes, still life, animals and portraits to figurative subjects.

My landscapes are inspired by the rural surroundings of the farm where I live with my husband, outside Baardskeerdersbos, in the Southern Overberg. I am attracted to Overberg and Scottish Highland landscapes which share similar characteristics of agrarian, mountainous, sea and loch landscapes , vegetation of fynbos and bracken flora, and vernacular architecture of Cape and Croft. Both places have wide open landscapes filled with sky, dappled light and clouds; large bodies of water of sea, damns or lakes ; flat green or rising mountainous landscapes; wind blown bushes and trees; small vernacular buildings of worn down brick, mud or stone, inhabited by agrarian people and animals, embodying rustic farm life that is endlessly peaceful and at one with the countryside.

The genre of still life is a painting convention used for conveying more intimate and personal themes. I have a deep fascination with the past, and old household objects, found archaeological artefacts and rubbish of discarded shoes, bits of mirror, funerary ornaments, fruit, pottery shards and bones collected on the farm are incorporated into my still lifes

As a passionate animal lover there are many inspirational beasts on the farm, cats, chickens, geese, cows and donkeys which provide an endless source of subject matter. Birds, wild life and natural objects, have inspired me since I can remember from my earliest drawings and watercolours in the Transvaal veld and on trips to game parks.

Portraits of friends and people of interest are included in my genre.
More recently figurative elements are used in my White Privilege series and in my Motion and Stasis series.

In 2019/21 I participated in painting workshops with Greg Kerr and the result was more experimental work with paintings derived from charcoal, pastel and collage drawings.

Distinctive qualities of my work include strong, expressive colours, rhythmic, lyrical line and form, contrasting tones and vibrant mark making. I continuously evolve and change my work, moving through different styles and subjects. The most consistent style of my painting being, semi-realist with overtones of Post-Impressionism, the Fauves and Nabis.

Currently I am exploring the versatile qualities of paper sculpture. Works include playful and whimsical cat and animal characters dressed in costumes inspired by the 18th century. The sculptures are entirely made out of paper which I have hand painted.

Ballet has been ever present in my life and the exploration of paper as a sculptural medium has developed into hand-painted ballet figures based on some of the dancers and costumes from the Ballet Russe. These dancers are set in a hand-painted paper theatre with paper sets and backdrops, paper curtains and decorative features.

As a founder member of the Baardskeerdersbos Art Route I have exhibited on the art route from its inception in 2008 and have had over 20 Solo Exhibitions on the Art Route.

I currently exhibit at the Stables Studio & Gallery on Assegaai Bosch Farm and also sell my work online from this web site and Instagram.

Please contact me via the Contact Page if you would like to find out more about my work. I sell locally and internationally and I am happy to ship anywhere internationally at very reasonable postage rates.

To view my work please click on each Portfolio section.

Please also visit the Links page to see more!

Thank you for visiting my web site!

Photograph at the Baardskerdersbos Art Route, April 2023, by Lizzie Kriel

Brief Bio (Please see CV for more detail)

Amanda was born in Johannesburg and attended the Johannesburg National School of Arts, receiving an Art Matric in 1978. She studied a B.A. Fine Art (UCT), majoring in printmaking under Jules van der Vijver, with distinctions in History of Art and Cultural History of Western Europe. In 1986 she completed her M.A. Fine Art (UCT), “Aspects of Contemporary black South African art up to 1986”. She lectured in Cultural History of Western Europe and History of Art for eight years at the University of Cape Town. In 1993 She studied a N.D. Land. Tech (CPUT) and had her own landscape design and construction business working for individual clients and major landscape contractors from 1993-2008. While lecturing and running her landscape business she continued to paint and exhibited in various group exhibitions around the Western Cape.

In 2008 she moved to a farm outside Baardskeerdersbos as a full-time artist where she and other artists formed the bi-annual Baardskeerdersbos Art Route. She exhibits at her Stables Studio & Gallery as well as selling her works online. Her works are in private collections in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Germany, Holland, Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

In 2019 Amanda qualified with a B.A. Honours in Couselling Psychology (Cum Laude) (UNISA) and is presently registered for a Masters in Psychology at UNISA.

Amanda is a Stage 4 Breast Cancer survivor.