Amanda VanValkenburg

Amanda VanValkenburg serves as Assistant Professor of Time Arts within the School of Art and Design at Northern Illinois University's College of Visual and Performing Arts. She concurrently instructs in the ACE and ECP programs at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, bridging institutional contexts through digital media practice.

Her educational foundation includes an M.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a B.F.A. from Brigham Young University with emphases in 3D Animation, Video Installation, and Experimental Narratives.

VanValkenburg's research manifests through video installations and digital recreations exploring the tension between physical environments and virtual spaces. Her 'Volumetric Fireworks' series dissects temporal layers of explosions, while 'Unnatural Disasters' digitally reconstructs abandoned structures to examine contemporary anxieties. The 'Volumetric Video Portraits' series—featuring figures like Clarice Lispector and Oscar Niemeyer—uses frame-stacking techniques to visualize memory's physicality, drawing parallels to medical imaging technologies. This work investigates how digital mediation transforms human relationships with space, time, and environmental trauma.

Her accolades include:

• Ragdale Artist Residency (2018)
• Oxbow Artist Residency (2017)
• High Concept Labs Sponsored Artist position
• Ditrapano Foundation for the Arts residency

Exhibition history spans international venues from Korea's CICA Museum to Lebanon's Beirut screenings, with recurring presentations at Chicago institutions including Mana Contemporary and the Museum of Contemporary Art. Her teaching directly informs studio practice through courses in animation and interactive media, emphasizing technical experimentation within conceptual frameworks of digital embodiment.