An artist and art teacher, Amanda Toy has lived and worked around the world working with countless artists as well as exhibiting her work in solo and groups shows in the United States and abroad. Born and raised along the California coastline, Toy earned her undergraduate degree at Scripps College in Claremont and her master’s degree at Whittier College in Whittier. Throughout the course of her travels, she has made frescoes for the late Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, created ceramic art with Paul Soldner and Joe Soldate, and created masterful paintings with Kent Twitchell. Toy has taught at both undergraduate and secondary levels around the United States, as well as in Mexico and the Czech Republic. She currently lives in Honolulu, Hawaii, where she teaches art and continues to explore her own artistic expression.

Toy describes her work as narrative, and the stories “embody a state of limitation or the struggle for release.” These notions and emotions are expressed through unique uses of color and perception. Frequently using mixed media in her pieces, the work frequently relates to her ideas about stereotypes. More often than not, she explains, stereotyping misses the real beauty in human natures and cultures. It is this message that Amanda Toy hopes to share with her viewers and, in the process, hopefully open their eyes to a brighter, wider world.