Pamela McKee, Cleveland, Ohio
Exhibiting a variety of paintings and sketches on mixed media using combinations of Kozo paper, photographic image transfers, fabric, graphite and dyes.
Ms. McKee, has an MA in English literature and taught English to earn a living while practicing her art. She has attended Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine; Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, Tennessee; Penland School of Crafts, Penland, North Carolina; the Cleveland Institute of Art and Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland, Ohio.
2011 Exhibit, Still Point Gallery
Artist’s Statement
Layers and texture are most important in my work. I use them to motivate the observer to look beyond the surface and perhaps to be surprised in the process. The longer one observes an object, the more it appears to change and the more transformational it becomes for the viewer. To this end, I use objects from my everyday world and try to see them differently.
For my brown ink series, I have taken a small object and examined its surface and textures through drawing and use of color. My small art pieces are exercises in mixing media and finding objects within objects.
The shibori work of Yoshika Wada and Joan Morris have influenced my work, and I have been further inspired by Dutch artist Marian Bijlenga, particularly through her book Written Weed. In his poem “Sunday Morning,” Wallace Stevens poses a question that informs and fuels my art.
“Shall she not find in comforts of the sun
In pungent fruit and bright, green wings, or else
In any balm or beauty of the earth
Things to be cherished … ?” Wallace Stevens