Artist Amanda Grace Markel specializes in modern equine and wildlife art with expressive personality and pizzazz. Her innovative works in bronze focus on design and the use of attractive lines to play with negative space and incorporate architectural elements or geometric forms. Markel first began experimenting with sculpture at a young age in her back yard where she turned the Colorado earth to clay. Years later she now uses clay, cast in bronze, to express the life of the animals she creates. Markel has built skills as a sculptor and entrepreneur while allocating a portion of her profits to promote the education and support of underprivileged children. She possesses a persistent desire to learn, experiment, teach, and innovate. Markel now works in a bronze casting foundry in Bozeman, Montana, and has sold her various works for the better part of a decade. Markel’s aspiration is to encourage, inspire, connect with and enhance the lives of others. ""I am a visual story teller. I use sculpture to give visible form to our unwritten stories. Our narratives of courage, connection and hope. I believe that art impacts the way we experience the world. It affects our sense of self and helps shape our culture and our perception of reality. It builds for us, a bridge back to ourselves and connects us with each other. The journey of life can be dauntingly painfully and . Yet, beauty and new life can be found in the mud and ashes. I feel it is my responsibility as an artist to seek and portray that unseen truth and beauty, in hopes of inspiring and empowering people to own their strength and tenderness, their courage and beauty."