Amanda Sumpter
Art Forms
Painting, Sculpture
Exhibition and News
I am looking forward to being back in the beautiful gardens at Ashdown Pottery with Bill and Anthea at Ashdown Pottery in June but before that my first show of 2025 opens in March at The Vanner Gallery in Salisbury, where I’ll be showing paintings for the first time. The show, [UNFOLD], runs from March 6th-29th, and I’m delighted to be exhibiting in such a beautiful contemporary space alongside a strong line-up of artists.
May will be a whirlwind! I’ll be taking part in Artists Open Houses, showing at Portland Place in Brighton, 11 Welbeck in Hove, and Studio 21 in Ditchling every weekend throughout the month. I’m also thrilled to be exhibiting in ‘No Hard Shoulder’, a group show at The Regency Townhouse in Brighton, which runs for the first two weeks of May.
June will bring a shift in pace, with time spent outdoors exhibiting in the gardens of Ashdown Pottery for South East Open Arts, a setting I always love. I’ll then round off the month by taking part in Stone 2025 at Falconhurst Estate in Kent, a highly regarded exhibition that I am honoured (and a little terrified!) to be a part of for the first time.
March 2025:
[UNFOLD], Group show at The Vanner Gallery, Salisbury, March 6th – 29th
May 2025:
Artist Open House, 4 Portland Place, Brighton, May 3rd/4th, 10th/11th, 17th/18th, 24th/25th
‘No Hard Shoulder’, Group show at The Regency Town House, Hove, May 3rd – 16th
Artist Open House, Studio 21, Ditchling, May 3rd/4th, 10th/11th, 17th/18th, 24th/25th
Artist Open House, 11welbeck, Hove, May 3rd/4th, 10th/11th, 17th/18th, 24th/25th
June 2025:
South East Open Studios, Ashdown Pottery, Fairwarp, June 6th/7th/8th, 14th/15th, 21st/22nd
Stone 2025, Falconhurst Estate, Kent, June 29th – July 26th
Biography
Amanda Sumpter is a contemporary stone carver and painter based in East Sussex. She completed an MA in Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art and worked as an installation and performance artist before discovering stone carving in 2004. This encounter marked a pivotal shift in her practice, introducing her to what she describes as an “immersive, protracted, but endlessly addictive process.”
Sumpter’s sculptural work, predominantly in alabaster and limestone, explores themes of fragility and transformation. Her fluid, organic forms evoke a sense of familiarity while remaining elusive, inviting touch and interaction. Each piece begins with a drawing but quickly evolves as the act of carving reveals unexpected marks, curves, and relationships. This dynamic process is at the heart of her practice, where accidental elements and intuitive responses to the stone guide the creation of forms that suggest an energy lying just beneath the surface.
Her painting practice reflects a quiet meditation on the passage of time and the fading of memories. Inspired by found objects—slate, lead, rusted metal—with deep personal and historical resonance, Sumpter builds layers of marks and overpainting to hint at what lies beneath, exploring the tension between what is real and imagined
Amanda was the winner of the Art Gemini Prize for Sculpture in 2024.
