Hi, I’m Amber Bent.
Welcome! Thank you for stopping by my page and supporting my work!
Art sprang out of nowhere for me, though I imagine it was there all along. Growing up, my mother was an oil painter, and it’s amazing how that early exposure made art feel like second nature to me.
On a random evening in 2015, a creative urge came and suddenly the artist in me emerged. There was so much I wanted to say to the world that I couldn’t get out with words, but art opened up a whole new language of expressing the vastness inside.
Thank you for partnering with me by witnessing my work, you give it purpose.
This year, I have had the absolute pleasure of volunteering as an Art Instructor for two incredible community organizations, New Story Community and the Calgary Dream Centre.
New Story Community: This organization is a recovery program that promotes the flourishing of Indigenous women in Canada. This work reignited my passion for sharing creativity with non traditional art students. As the instructor, I designed and executed an Art Therapy Program for New Story participants. This work included therapeutic art exercises and art projects inspired by Canadian and Indigenous Artists. I prepared biweekly art lessons or art therapy sessions and gathered the art materials needed for the work. I created and presented art education on contemporary Canadian and Indigenous artists. I taught participants many forms of art including abstract, multimedia, drawing, portraiture, and landscapes. Finally, I led emotion regulation art therapy.
Calgary Dream Centre: This organization is a recovery program with a mission to bring hope, freedom, and purpose to it’s participants. I am currently co-teaching a drawing class for the men in this program. The work has involved designing a course outline for drawing lessons, creating lecture content on drawing techniques, preparing class reference materials and gathering art supplies, and providing in person lectures and providing feedback to participant drawings. The men in this class are incredibly talented and have been a joy to work with. Their personalities shine through in each class and they keep me laughing. I am in awe of the creative work that has come out of this class.
Voltage Creative Garage: In 2016, I rented an art studio space in an artist collective studio called Voltage Creative Garage which two individuals created from an old mechanic shop in Calgary. Here I produced abstract paintings for approximately 9 months. During this time, I showcased and sold my work at university student art shows and I did an art show with a fellow artist at Voltage in 2017. I also worked on commissions. Many events were hosted at Voltage open to the community. I was a part of these events talking with people from the community. I gained connections with other artists that leased studio space and creatives who visited.
Lighthouse Voyage & Parish Coffee: I have donated 7 abstract paintings to non-profits in Calgary for auction fundraisers, the total value of work donated is $5,675.00
Community Work
My Training
Exhibitions
I received formal training in fine arts through the University of Calgary where I achieved a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a minor in Fine Arts.
I gained extensive experience during university in drawing and painting. I am very comfortable working with many different types of mediums and expressing many forms of drawing and painting because of this experience. During my painting courses, we had wood shop lessons where we learned how to create stretcher bars. We were taught about different types of materials used in painting such as boards, canvases, paints and paint mediums, methods on how to use paints and how to properly dispose of materials.
I took two courses in contemporary art. One assignment required us to do a curatorial theme where we designed an art exhibit for a museum allowing me to gain experience in curation. We also did presentations about artists where I focused my studies on Les Automatiste artist group, and other artists like Banksy. We learned how to lead conversations on conceptual art with our classmates making us comfortable sharing publicly, skills that help us engage with our audience as artists. We did many gallery visits and wrote reports on conceptual themes helping us think deeper about the meaning of our work. I took a course on Professional Development where I learned how to present my practice professionally through completing a dissemination portfolio. Lectures discussed topics such as copyright, how to document artworks, and we had guest speakers from Canadian art organizations.
Group Exhibitions
2026 Fundraiser Evening, Parish Coffee Silent Auction Event, Calgary
2025 Salt of the Earth Gala, Lighthouse Voyage Silent Auction Gala, Calgary
2019 Faces of Dignity, Lighthouse Voyage Art Auction, Calgary
2018 Unveiled, Lighthouse Voyage Art Auction, Calgary
2017 PULL 3.0, cSpace King Edward, Calgary
2017 People are Pearls, cSpace King Edward, Calgary
2017 Art Show with Allisha Morris, Voltage Creative Garage, Calgary
2016 VERVE, RAW: Natural Born Artists, Marquee Beer Market & Stage, Calgary
2016PULL 2.0, The Know Gallery, Calgary