Beth Amato
Visual Artist
Studio 18 in the Pines is home to my studio. Public gallery hours are M-F 9:30-6 or by appointment. Please stop by and say hello!
Biography
As a child, Beth envisioned her adult self sitting at a desk coloring as her career. She didn't know at the time how accurate that would be. A graduate of Ringling College of Art + Design, she has produced thousands of commercials, worked on government and commercial simulations, video arcade games, published her photography, won awards and made jewelry. She's most proud of having the ability t
o encourage, educate and share her passion for a wide variety of visual art with others.
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Beth Amato is an East Coast artist, having lived half her life in Rhode Island and the other half in Florida. At 21, knowing deep down that something was missing in her life direction, she applied, and was accepted to Ringling College of Art and Design. In 1992 she transferred to Ringling, in Sarasota, as a computer animation BFA candidate. During her tenure at Ringling, Beth apprenticed in a variety of artistic fields in addition to computer animation including faux finishing, printing, sign making and magazine production all while holding down a steady course load of studio classes. She knows this adventure reinforced the fierce work ethic fostered in her formative years.
After graduating, the adventure continued while Beth honed her art, design and computer skills in professional environments. She worked in team and independent environments building government and commercial simulations, video arcade games, post production for television, advertising and video production before deciding on a drastic change. Having an affinity for photography for quite some time, she yearned to incorporate that with experimental projects she had been imaging for over a decade. In 2006 she embarked on a journey to blend her commercial and production experience with real concepts and ideas in technique and content. A major milestone was reached for Beth in 2010, being accepted into a juried studio program for professional artists at Studio 18 in Pembroke Pines.
Beth shares that leaving the advertising world was one of the best things to happen to her. “While it was a challenging transition, I learned a great deal about having confidence in my own voice. Something I had lost for a time communicating other people’s stories”. Her work now starts with her own story and that story is often woven through the entire process of making the art. Something as simple in appearance as a water drop or flower is very much a conscious capture of a moment in time that reaches back into her roots as an animator. “I constantly view life in frames now. It’s one of those things that, for me, once I got a glimpse behind the curtain I couldn’t go back. That is something I share in the art that I make, whether it is apparent or not, it’s there.”
