My name is Amanda Monyhan and I am a 43 year old Visual & Performance Artist living in Cincinnati, Ohio.

I was born in Kentucky and have a BFA in Theater/Acting. Upon graduation (1999) I visited the Utah desert and while there I took some LSD with friends. Naturally it was a pretty rad experience...to be in such an interesting environment on such an interesting drug...but something unexpected happened. Suddenly I noticed the bright green sage that was EVERYWHERE!! How had I missed this? Once I came down off the drug I could now see all the amazing greenery that was in the desert that I was previously oblivious to. That caused me to pay more attention to what colors were going on in an environment.

During a return trip 6 months later I started to feel inspired by the various wind chimes I kept seeing in the gift shops I would visit at the national parks. When I returned home I bought a mosaic kit and turned it into a wind chime for my porch and I immediately knew I would not move to New York City and pursue a traditional actors path like I had planned. I wanted to make Art! I wanted to play with colors and textures and create tangible things that made me feel as alive as that beautiful red rock desert did.

In my 30s I lived 5 years in the SF Bay Area and became a professional self-taught Tarot Reader. I worked from home and YouTube, eBay and Amazon had just recently came into existence, so soon I was exploring every kind of visual art medium I could get my hands on. That’s also when I first joined Etsy.

In 2010 I moved to a small mountain/valley town in Northern California because I wanted to teach myself Shamanism and learn more about Animal Totems by living in nature and around people who knew things that I didn’t.

Looking back on that time period, I’d have to say it is what has shaped me most as a visual artist. I see it as a sort of shamanic initiation that I could never have anticipated.

In short, I fell in love and into an abusive relationship that eventually had to end. That led to a series of retaliations that were intended to destroy me...revenge porn and slut shaming and the burning of all my art and supplies. I was devastated.

While being followed home by my ex one night I was feeling afraid and suicidal and thought things couldn’t get much worse so I tried the crystal meth that was offered to me by the friend who was suppose to be protecting me.

We were on the river and suddenly I could see every heart shaped rock on the stretch of river-bank that surrounded me. I could see an array of human, animal and cartoon faces in every tree we passed. I also felt fearless and inspired after having felt so terribly lost and scared.

I do not recommend drugs...they led to me being evicted into the woods and whatever was not destroyed by my ex was destroyed through homelessness, the weather or the Forrest Department. I do not recommend drugs because when you think things can’t get worse...drugs will always prove you wrong.

I got my shamanic experience I was seeking by losing everything I loved and almost dying twice and being miraculously saved by my family. Careful what you ask for, kids! That time living in the woods was magical but it was merciless. I do not recommend drugs...but to say these experiences have not shaped my creative vision and inspirations would be a lie.

I was rescued from a cold winter and a very dangerous situation on 12/20/12 by my sister and step-mom. I returned to the mid-west with only the stolen clothes on my back. Pretty much everything I had ever created artistically was gone. If it was not uploaded to the internet or sold or gifted it no longer existed. A HUGE part of my recovery from addiction and PTSD from the abuse and near death experiences I endured has revolved around making art once more.

The first piece I finished was a true labor of love and what I like to call a Creativity Shield...it’s kind of like a dream catcher but it wards off negativity and protects ones creative visions and desires from assholes.

A lot of my art turns out looking psychedelic. It’s not on purpose, but all things considered, it makes sense that it would. Nature, animals and bold colors juxtaposed against black and white play a prominent role in what gets me excited and wanting to create. I like to sometimes integrate words to inspire people to keep walking a road that is true and meaningful to them especially when faced with challenges.