| Pam's
work had its beginnings in her childhood home, where she grew up surrounded by
Asian art. In retrospect, Pam has discovered that the qualities she strives for
in her work are actually grounded in Japanese concepts of aesthetics.
Visual
elements distilled to their essence, rustic simplicity, absence of pretence, the
beauty of things imperfect, the play of simple shape upon simple shape. These
are some of the convictions that inspire and guide her.
Pam is both artist
and engineer. The craft of metalsmithing requires that a piece must be meticulously
planned from beginning to end. Using a rolling mill, she inlays rose, yellow and
green 14K gold into textured fine silver, then hand form this inlayed metal into
hollow pillows.
It is a multi-step process that begins with using her
templates to cut opposite shapes, doming the pieces in a dapping block, shaping
the edges with pliers, and filing the pieces flat.
The two halves must
then be fine-tuned to match perfectly before soldering them together to create
the hollow pillow. In finding the right balance among form, texture, pattern and
color, Pam seeks harmony, rhythm and a subtle grace; she finds beauty and strength
in simplicity.
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914
water street, port townsend, washington 98368 | telephone (360) 385-3630