Amanda (Mandy) was born in 1980 and has been living for most of her life in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada in the First Nation community Wagmatcook. During Amanda’s childhood, she was greatly fascinated by painting. Darren Julian, her husband, is also a Friends United artist who showed (founder) Rolf Bouman a unique painting on a drum that Mandy had painted. Rolf was very intrigued by the image on the drum and inquired as to whether she also would consider painting on canvas. She agreed and started to tell the story of the Mi´kmaq people in her paintings. Mandy has developed a very unique style and is detail oriented in her creations. This is why it takes a long time for each painting to be completed. Sometimes her husband Darren is suggesting themes and subjects to be featured and then both name the painting afterwards together. Mandy has been inspiring many people with her artwork, amongst them often children. Mandy’s mother-in-law is the late Friends United artist Sandra Simon.
