"It's All Make Believe Isn't It" by Pamela Workman
You Tell Me That It’s Evolution
Still life gave way to portraiture for local artist Pamela Workman
When you think of an artist, a specific style or type of work often comes to mind.
But to Pamela Workman, being an artist is an evolutionary process.
Though Workman’s medium – oil on linen – has remained constant, the subject matter she paints has evolved over time.
“In an artist’s journey, you start with something and it just builds,” she says. “Something leads to something else, then pretty soon, you think, ‘Wow, I didn’t even know that I was ever going to think this.’ But it’s a huge gift the way it unfolds.”
"Guru Kerala" by Pamela Workman
You Tell Me That It’s Evolution
Workman graduated from The Ohio State University in 1967 and soon began working in elementary education, though she always maintained a home studio for her artwork. After her children were grown, she went back to school, receiving a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Columbus College of Art and Design in 1999 and graduating as valedictorian of her class.
During this time, Workman was painting what she refers to as “nontraditional still life.”
“The reason I say ‘nontraditional’ is because a lot of times, the phrase ‘still life’ conjures up images of objects on a table or something like that,” Workman says. “I was really more interested in the reflections.”
Instead of the stereotypical depiction of fruit on a table, Workman’s renditions of still life often include an object such as a postage stamp reflected into an object.
To further challenge her skills and add interest, Workman’s style evolved to include irregularly-shaped reflective objects. In this style, known as anamorphosis, the reflection of the object is not perfect, but rather is distorted on the uneven surface.
“That’s where I was. That’s where I thought I was always going to be,” she says. “I’m doing fabric, I’m doing reflective surfaces, I’m doing anamorphosis, I’m doing a lot of objects, such as photographs. … I was like, ‘This is it. This is what I’m sharing.’”
"Juggler Central Park" by Pamela Workman
You Tell Me That It’s Evolution
Workman’s experience as an artist further evolved when her husband’s, Tom, job took them to New York. The move gave Workman the opportunity to attend Pratt Institute, from which she received a master of fine arts degree in 2003.
Then one day, a walk in the park changed everything.
“I was walking through Central Park … and here’s this (juggler), and he has this orb in his hand, and it was the same thing that I had been painting,” Workman says. “I could see the anamorphosis in the orb. I saw this guy, and it was like my work stepped out of the still life into real life. And there I was suddenly painting people. I never expected to do that, but you’ve just got to go with it.”
Though Workman is focused on painting people, she does not just paint portraits; she strives to tell a story with each work.
“It’s very meditative to me to have an experience with these people I don’t even know,” Workman says. “It’s sort of my way of having an experience with a lot of different people. We’re not talking, but I’m thinking about them. I’m thinking about who they are, wondering what they do.”
Though Workman is a trained drawer, when she does portraits, she projects the photo onto a surface and measures it out. This allows her to have the right proportions set so she can focus on the execution.
“It loosens it up for me. I want it to be more of an impression of the person rather than a straight, tight rendering,” she says. “It’s not really about the photograph of them. It is more about trying to show that there’s a mental process going on. There’s a lot of thinking about them.”
You Tell Me That It’s Evolution
Though she never expected to be painting people, Workman says, that’s where her experiences and inspirations have taken her.
Workman is currently working on portraits for her Measured series, which, to date, includes more than 40 portraits. However, there is no telling how her art might evolve next.
Workman has rotating work displayed at Hammond Harkins Galleries, with featured shows every couple of years.
Morgan Schunn is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
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