Pamela Farrell
Hunterdon County NJ
pfarrell@pamelafarrell.com
908.246.1448
BIO:
I currently live and paint in Hunterdon County, and was born and raised in Central Jersey. I currently am represented by Ruth Morpeth Gallery in Hopewell, NJ. In Spring 2007, I collaborated with Ruth Morpeth to curate an exhibition: Surface & Beyond: Artists Working with the Possibilities of Wax, featuring a range of encaustic painting techniques by artists from across the country.
In 1991, I graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, where I concentrated in sculpture and printmaking. I continued to work in these mediums, and incorporated beeswax, clay, and wood into the sculpture. Eventually, I shifted to painting and worked mainly in oil, focusing on geometric abstraction. During this period, I was involved in several local institutions, including the artist-run Printmaking Council of New Jersey, and Raritan Valley Community College. Drawing on inspiration from the 1999 Montclair Museum show Waxing Poetic, I began to focus on encaustic, which remains intriguing, challenging and deeply rewarding.
SELECTED SOLO & TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS:
2005
Distillations: Two Person Show Arts Council of Princeton, Princeton NJ
1993
Solo Show: Wax, Wood & Clay Raritan Valley Community College, North Branch NJ
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2008
Group Invitational, Gallery 31 North, Glen Gardner, NJ
Blending Boundaries: Group Invitational, Trump Taj Mahal, Atlantic City, NJ
Origins: Graduate Humanities Forum, Fox Gallery, University of Pennsylvania, Phila., PA
2007
Winter Group Show, Morpeth Gallery, Princeton, NJ
Da Vinci Art Alliance Annual Members Show Philadelphia, PA
Surface & Beyond: Encaustic Invitational Morpeth Gallery, Hopewell NJ
2006
Invitational Group Show Dennick Court Gallery, Princeton NJ
Spring Contemporary Morpeth Gallery, Hopewell NJ
2005
Group Show Morpeth Gallery, Hopewell NJ
2004
Group Show Morpeth Gallery, Hopewell NJ
2004
Juried Small Works Show Arts Council of Princeton, Princeton NJ
1995
Alumni Invitational Raritan Valley Community College, North Branch NJ
Juried Photo Show Altered Images Printmaking Council of New Jersey, North Branch NJ
1993
Juried Group Show Beamsderfer Gallery, Highland Park NJ
1992
Group Show Main Street Gallery, Califon NJ
1990
Ceramic Sculpture Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University NJ
1989
Four Artists Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University NJ
CURATORIAL ACTIVITIES:
2007
Co-Curator, Encaustic Group Show Morpeth Gallery, Hopewell NJ
2005
Juror, Annual Small Works Arts Council of Princeton, Princeton NJ
1991
Curator, Ceramic Sculpture Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University NJ
REPRESENTATION:
Morpeth Gallery 43 W. Broad Street Hopewell NJ 08525
609-333-9393 www.ruthmorpeth.com
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS:
Inliquid Artists and Designers Network: Inliquid.com
EDUCATION:
1991
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University NJ
2002
Masters of Social Work Marywood University School of Social Work, Scranton PA
ABOUT THE WORK:
My work explores issues of knowledge, experience, memory, and identity. I am interested in the spaces and places between the cracks of what I know—the areas tenuously marked by indeterminate boundaries.
In a formal sense, I am attracted to colors that are not easily nameable, form that is ambiguous and indefinable. In the work I seek to bring forward traces of memory and experience that cannot be expressed with words. Encaustic—molten, pigmented, beeswax—and oil with graphite are my primary tools for this nonverbal communication.
It is the process of allowing the obscure and indeterminate to surface that initially generates anxiety, but ultimately provides occasion for discovery and understanding.
NOTES ON ENCAUSTIC PAINTING:
The word encaustic comes from the Greek “to burn.” Encaustic is an ancient painting technique using pigment suspended in molten beeswax. Some of the earliest extant examples of encaustic painting date back to 1 BC.
Contemporary encaustic painting involves pigment mixed with a beeswax medium that is tempered with damar resin. Pigmented wax is applied in a molten state to a rigid surface, then fused to the surface or previous layers with heat. This technique allows for layers of color and texture that can appear from beneath subsequent layers. Pigmented beeswax can be applied in a range of densities, from delicate translucency to a solid opacity. Each layer is applied, then fused, to eventually form one continuous layer. The ultimate surface can be a highly textured impasto, a highly polished smooth surface, or any texture in between.
Some of the processes I have employed in these paintings are the application of many layers of varying translucency, parts of which are scraped away, revealing areas of texture, color, and form. Opacity plays against translucency, smooth against texture, solid against ethereal…creating an intricate dynamic of tensions.
Encaustic paintings should be cared for much the same way as any other fine work of art: it should be kept out of direct sunlight, away from sources of heat or cold. While encaustic painting can last indefinitely, it is vulnerable to dents and scratches, and should be protected accordingly. The best way to do this is to hang the painting on the wall!
A naturally occurring “bloom” will emerge on the surface of an encaustic painting some days or weeks after completion of the painting. Should this emerge on the surface of your painting, it can be “buffed” away with a soft, clean, cotton cloth. After the bloom is buffed away a couple of times, it will no longer appear.