Artist Spotlight: Pamela W. Wallace
This week we had a conversation with artist and educator Pamela W. Wallace and looked back at photographs from a wonderful visit to her studio prior to COVID 19. Pamela worked as a physician until closing her practice to pursue a BA in painting, followed by three years of study in printmaking.
Her work utilizes encaustic, R&F Pigment Sticks, and collagraph printing techniques to create art that reflects her background in science and her engagement with nature. Pamela’s work is in collections across the United States and she has shown widely, including at Mid-Atlantic New Painting and Lanoue Fine Art. She is the recipient of a fellowship to the Virginia Center for Creative Arts.
Pamela, how are you staying creative during COVID 19?
There have been many venues for creativity during the pandemic - the kitchen, the yard and gardens, and the studio. In many ways, I am going back to things I so enjoyed doing in past years - culturing and growing food indoors and out, making jewelry, and working creatively with wood.
How has your work changed recently, has encaustic played a role?
My studio work has changed. I am making small bas-relief sculptures with wood scraps collected over many years. Most of these pieces also include some encaustic paint. A significant portion of my garage and kitchen space is now occupied by works in progress. I layout elements and rearrange them over time before fastening them together with screws and glue. Over the past few months, metal, fabric, and paper elements have been added to some work.
With a background working in printmaking, jewelry, and sculpture, was encaustic a natural fit?
I learned about encaustic many years ago while primarily pulling prints off a press. Combining encaustic medium with collograph prints led to painting with encaustic and more recently, to using encaustic with mixed media and 3-D work. Tools and techniques used in printmaking, silver work, and wood carving dovetail directly into working with encaustic.
What is a painting day like for you?
There is no such thing as a typical painting day anymore. Every day begins by assessing the needs of cultures and gardens. Once they are looked after, the weather often dictates my studio practice for the day. It may be an outdoor sanding/sawing day if dry enough for power tools, a paper embossing or jewelry day, or a perfect temp for firing up the hotplate and melting wax.
Once working, all sense of time is lost and I may look out and note it has gotten dark. Dinner is often very late. There is an ironic freedom in this anxious, lonely, and isolated time.
To see more of Pamela’s work, visit her website: pamelawwallace.com.