Amanda Leigh

Amanda Leigh (formerly Amanda Burris) is a multimedia developer, photographer, filmmaker, writer and multidisciplinary creative with more than 35 years of experience working at the intersection of art, technology and storytelling.

Her career began in graphic design and evolved alongside the digital-media revolution—from early computer graphics, 3D animation and interactive multimedia to web development, video, data visualization and emerging creative technologies. Along the way, she developed interactive media for advertising agencies and Fortune 500 companies, founded the multimedia firm Bluebird Multimedia, and later served as Vice President of Customer Insights at Broadway Bank.

Today, Amanda brings that unusually broad foundation to FOLK STUDIO 451, an independent creative studio and evolving laboratory for photography, filmmaking, animation, sound, writing, interactive media and experimentation with emerging technologies.

Her work is grounded in curiosity: learning new tools, crossing boundaries between disciplines, and exploring how traditional forms of making can coexist with new technology. Current projects extend from photography and stop-motion animation to filmmaking, AI-assisted production, sound and physical media.

Storytelling remains a thread connecting it all. Whether working with an image, a film, an object, sound or an interactive experience, Amanda is interested in the ways creative work can preserve experience, spark curiosity and create connections across generations and cultures.

DID YOU KNOW? Amanda has 35+ years of experience creating digital media.
Check out her resume for more details.

IN MY OWN WORDS

Over the years I’ve been a high school band nerd, a graphic designer, animator, interactive media developer, video editor, webmaster, as3 coder, and most recently a vice president data wrangler building Power BI dashboards for a regional bank.

Am I a master at all of those things? No, probably not, at least not yet. But I’ve learned enough to get the job done, plus a little more. I’m known for being able to learn new skills and for creative, often unorthodox, solutions. It may take me longer, as I usually push the envelope alone. Still, the results are worth waiting for, if only for the surprise of seeing what crazy concoction has developed.

The four years in high school band was the official start of my creative journey. I was a trumpet player in our school’s wind ensemble and jazz ensemble. This was where I learned that there is such a thing as perfection and that it takes countless hours of hard work, individually and collectively, to create a transcendent experience. The pure bliss of being in tune with a hundred others in a single moment – in tune and perfectly balanced from flute to tuba, when every voice is heard singly and collectively—getting goosebumps when a complex piece is played flawlessly during a performance and transcendent moments hang in the air—feeling the invisible current of energy circulating between the performers on the stage and the audience—the swell of pride as we marched together to the cadence of drums.

Tom C. Clark HS Wind Ensemble, circa 1982 (aka A1 in 5A school), “The Festival at Baghdad” (Scheherazade) by Rimsky-Korsakov, arr Hindsley

This was us from way back in the early 1980s. We were 15-17 years old at the time. We practiced together 3-4 hours a day, every day. Check it out! I think we were pretty good. I played 3rd part in the trumpet section, and yes that’s triple-tonguing. (Here’s how to do it.)

I studied visual arts at Texas Woman’s University, graduating in 1987 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) with a concentration in Advertising Design and Marketing — a 4-year degree exploring a variety of visual media, including graphic design, photography, illustration, painting and sculpture, art history and various aspects of business marketing. This was “BC” “before computers” were readily available in our school, so I took an independent study in CAD from the computer department to learn the basics of 3D modeling, which came in very handy later when exploring 3-D animation.

At that time, the neighboring North Texas University was “it” for Advertising Design degrees. Having graduated from TWU, I found it an uphill battle and challenging to break into the advertising agency world in Dallas. So, my career took an alternate route; let’s call it the “scenic route” LOL. Looking back, I learned faster and had a much more unique experience than I would have otherwise. Starting at the very bottom, I gained a much broader knowledge base. And I’ve always encouraged myself with the thought, “The broader the base, the higher the pyramid.”

I began my career as a college senior working as an intern for a family print shop just before WYSIWYG was a thing. To set type, we had to “code” fonts and font sizes using a language similar to HTML markup and print a hard copy to see what the heck we were doing. After graduating in 1987, as Macintosh became a more common tool for art departments, I worked as an ad builder on the night shift for “The Carrollton Chronicle,” a Harte Hanks community newspaper.

As I learned, I found new, better jobs, and my career grew. Getting bored with designing ads, letterhead, and fliers, I created my first little interactive project in HyperCard while sitting next to a printing press clackity clacking away, inhaling vapors from the blanket wash, and chatting with the pressman. Moving on to technical publications, I created my first technical illustration (of a Fujitsu Pocket Commander phone) in Adobe Illustrator 1.0., my first interactive presentation in “Macromind” Director (before it was Macromedia before it was Adobe), and my first little black and white 3D animation in Swivel 3D after borrowing my dad’s Macintosh SE for the purpose. I spent endless hours bringing my little character to life, and this project gave me an internship at a digital video studio (DreamTime Imagineering) as a 3D animator.

I’ve worked for a newspaper art department, a print shop, a technical documents publisher, corporate theater productions, a digital video studio, and as an independent contractor developing interactive media for ad agencies, all working with various Fortune 500 brands in the Dallas area, back when 28.8K bps was the bomb and every pixel counted. In my most recent corporate position I was up to my elbows in customer and market data, building Power BI dashboards for executive teams in San Antonio.

Over my 35+ year career, I’ve worked on thousands of digital media projects, each with evolving technical requirements and looming deadlines of “asap.”

From the days of amber monitors and 14.4k modems through the launch of Windows, Mac, laser discs, Web 1.0, the 1-megapixel camera, CDROM, and DVD through to today’s streaming media – I’ve learned that tech changes, but the fundamentals of communication do not.

Boy, am I ready to slow down enough to stop and smell the roses! But exciting things are happening!!

FOLK STUDIO 451 has become the place where I bring all of those seemingly disconnected experiences together. Photography, film, animation, sound, technology, writing, physical making—after 35+ years, I’m discovering that perhaps they weren’t disconnected after all.

As always, I’m still curious and still driven to learn new skills—still expanding my base. The difference now is that the projects are personal. They are experiments, explorations and, increasingly, the culmination of everything I’ve learned along the scenic route.

I’m not entirely sure where all of this will lead.

That’s part of the fun.

I hope you’ll follow along on the Social Wall.

Here a few of my favorite things…

GENERATION
Gen X

FAVORITE QUOTE
“Let’s work the problem, people. Let’s not make things worse by guessing.” – Gene Kranz, Apollo 13 (Failure is not an option)

CURRENTLY LISTENING TO
Wardruna, Nightmares on Wax

CURRENTLY BINGE-WATCHING
Rick Beato for the heart, StarTalk for the mind, “Would I Lie To You?” for the laugh, Wardruna for my Nordic soul. So excited we recently saw Wardruna play live. Read about it on my blog. Official Site.

WAITING IMPATIENTLY FOR THE NEXT EPISODE OF
Only Murders in the Building. Steve Martin and Martin Short are pure gold.