Amenda Tate

I create collaborative art that explores movement, our relationship to technology, and the understanding of what it means to be human including the ways in which "humanness" can be denied. I use custom-designed technology, traditional mediums, and social interactions to foster connectedness. My work encourages audiences to think critically about their relationship to one another in a vast and ubiquitous digital world. 

In Latin, the word Manibus means “from the hand.” I created the Manibus robotic painting device to utilize as an extension of my own artistic hand. A dancer wears a motion-sensing remote directing Manibus to render an artistic depiction of elapsed time and motion. Using this tool, I capture and translate the movement and visceral dynamics of dance into painted works of art. 

I facilitate collaborative processes as a director combining the necessary components for creating the work of art. With a nod to Abstract Expressionism, I allow for spontaneity in the mark, but utilize my own set of constraints to orchestrate order in the process. I determine the scale, width of the brush, the color, the starts and stops, while resigning myself to accept some aspects of the output as they occur. In the spirit of Happenings, I encourage the contribution of creative energy within a prescribed structure. 

My process yields an observable abstract representation of what has transpired. It is an opportunity to analyze the fleeting movements of dance. The works take shape as dynamic linear renderings that embody kinetic verve. The emotion of the dance becomes a painted vestige honoring that instance in time. The lingering traces are mapped connections facilitated by social interaction, art, engineering, and technology. My work explores how art and dance can be utilized in a participatory way to cross societal divides, break down barriers and increase empathy through tangible and embodied interactions. Through imagination, curiosity, and courage, we can increase our self-awareness to grow introspectively and consciously thereby enabling us to better understand the experiences of others. I have been conducting happenings/events that encourage public participation in the performative and improvisational creation of a collaborative work of art as a means to explore social structures and confirm connections to being emotionally intelligent humans.

Amenda Tate is an Interdisciplinary Artist with a background in fine art and metalsmithing. She was a 2019 - 2020 Iowa Arts Council Fellow. Her current focus is the Manibus Project in which dance is translated into painted works of art. Her work utilizes scientific and aesthetic processes to address topics such as identity, individuality, longevity, and the culture of social interaction in our digital era. Her works have been featured in solo and group exhibitions across the US. 

Tate worked as an Artist-In Residence with the New York Mills Regional Cultural Center, and Ballet Des Moines. Her works have been featured by various media outlets including The New York Times, WHO-TV Channel 13 News, the Denver Post, the book Art Jewelry Today 2, the Des Moines Register, Better Homes & Gardens, dsm Magazine, and Popular Science. Special honors include a permanent collection commission by Arrow Electronics in conjunction with Cherry Arts and the Colorado Ballet, two Editor’s Choice Awards at the New York International Maker Faire, and special recognition award in the 2017 International RobotArt competition. She was awarded a 2020 project grant by the Iowa Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.