While creating has been an integral part of Pamela Bates’ life from her earliest memories, a pivotal moment during a visit to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston brought the greatest transformation. Standing in front of El Jaleo by John Singer Sargent was an otherworldly experience that could not be denied—taking her breath away and knocking her back across the room. A visceral epiphany.
Pamela knew that while she had been creative all her life, she had to go home and, after a 23-year career as a graphic designer and writer, begin creating in a new way: with a paintbrush. Self-taught, Pamela considers herself an intuitive abstract expressionist artist.
She is inspired by the nature that surrounds her on the New Hampshire Seacoast, where she grew up and still resides, as well as by the small moments that make life beautiful. Pamela has shown her work in Boston, in three solo exhibitions on the Seacoast, in a feature artist exhibition in Maine, and in many group shows. Her work resides in homes and private collections around the world, including Australia, Ireland, Brazil, and across the United States, as well as at the U.S. Passport Center in New Hampshire.
Pamela paints in her studio in Stratham, New Hampshire, across the street from Sunset Meadows and six miles from the Atlantic Ocean. When not painting, she encourages others to open themselves to the transformative power of art through classes and coaching.
“I am mesmerized by color, marks, layers and texture and the way they express the things that influence each of us, internally and externally. The way they can create a timeline of our life and experiences, like tree rings or chapters in a book. Sometimes these influences hit me head on like the colors of a sunset while others are unrecognizable until revealed at a time of their choosing; seeing my marks reflected in the sand or in the bark of a tree, or the evocative feeling of laughter that hangs in the air and stays with you. For me, it is most often the latter. I don’t recognize the influence in my work until after. The process forces me to let go of control and trust the process and painting to lead. I am just a conduit for that creative energy. There is no limit to the tools or mediums I use. It is all about allowing myself to explore and express. My biggest challenge is always to get out of the way and recognize that the process is the art and the painting is the result.”