Meet the Artist: Pam Allen

Interview with Jeweler Pam Allen

Inspired Journeys at the Prairie Art Alliance Gallery is on view until Thursday October 9th. 

Where did the name Park Avenue Designs come from?

We used to live on Park Avenue. The name was classy. We thought we would live there forever, and we did for about 6 years (we lived there for 23 years) after I started the business, then we moved and it was just too much trouble to change it—plus Wydown Avenue Designs doesn’t have much of a ring to it. LOL

Your pieces combine a variety of textures into a single piece.  Why are you drawn to texture?

Plain metal for the most part is boring!  Layering texture makes a piece more interesting, gives it depth, and defines it.

Design and overall shape seems to play a key role in your finished pieces.  What inspires the design; the process, the metal, the stone, or an image in your head?

It all depends. Anything may inspire the design: maybe I have a piece left over, or I have a piece that doesn’t sell, so I take it apart and call it a do over; maybe I see something in a magazine, or another artists work, that makes me what to take off on the design with something of my own.  Almost anything and everything can inspire me or give me an idea that I can turn into a piece of jewelry.  For example, the base circle on the featured Sterling Silver Charoite Necklace was part of another piece that I made early on. It didn’t sell, so I took it apart, started playing  with a more fluid design around that piece of Charoite, which I love, and voila. 

The process /design thingy, is really chicken and egg.  The design may be conducive to “cold connections” or may require soldering.  If I want to combine metals again that may determine the process.  Or I may decide that today I want to do some Broom Casting—then the process is going to determine the design. I have recently gotten into “Torch Enameling”, a technique that really requires cold connections post enameling.  I have always said I have artistic ADD. I jump from one thing to another, and it’s always my favorite when I’m doing it!

Your pieces seem to seamlessly incorporate stones.  Do you design around the stone or create the piece and choose the stone and placement as you work?

In the past I have added stones to designs. Lately I have been buying unique stones and designing around them.

Do you have a favorite stone?

I love Larimar, the clear blue stone, and Charoite, the marbled purple stone.  I am fond of many others and I am drawn to the unique, be it cut or color. There is an annual “rock” show at the fair grounds and one particular booth that I visit has stones that he personally collects and cuts; I’m like a kid in a candy store.

What is next for you as an artist?

I have no idea.  I am really happy with “what is.” At this stage, I really don’t think about what is next. Whatever strikes my fancy, or grabs my attention, that’s what’s next.  I just keep learning, having fun, and creating art that I can share.  As customer once said, “When I saw that piece it made my heart sing.”

Follow our blog for interviews from the other artists featured in "Inspired Journeys" on display at the Prairie Art Alliance Gallery until October 9th.

Meet the Artist: E. Vern Taylor

Interview with Painter and Print maker E. Vern Taylor

Inspired Journeys at the Prairie Art Alliance Gallery is on view until Thursday October 9th. 

You have described the theme of your work in this show as “Beginnings”.  What does that mean to you?

Oh Joy...'One' Rite of Spring!

Beginnings in the next phase of my Life.  Beginnings in another way of producing a painting or work of art.  Beginnings in the senior years of my career as a fledgling artist.  Beginnings with a deeper, more meaningful means of expression - emotionally, physically, and spiritually.  I chose "Beginnings" for the title of this particular collection because of the unwanted, long hiatus I was away from my painting - the very thing I've come to focus on, more and more as I continue this march in my retired years.  It's one of the things that keeps me active and alert, as I'm finding out what the elemental and fundamental joys of painting really boil down to, in creating a piece of art "that I feel good about."

Each piece is paired with text you have written, many of which are lyrical poems.  What comes first, the writing or the artwork?

The artwork always comes first, then the—what I've always called, my "Lyrical Writings"—comes after, or during the making of the piece, sometimes when it's almost completed.  It is said that "a painting always speaks for itself," but, I guess, I try to add a story or a little more depth by doing my Lyrical Writings (which I learned to do in my college Art classes) and it just blossomed from there.  Writing is a favorite pastime of mine and has been for many, many years.

How do you feel the text is connected to the piece? 

If it's a "Lyrical Writing," it has everything to do with the poetry of the painting, or the story behind the piece, or of the image.  Expounding on or explaining my motivation for doing the piece.  The Lyrical Writing completes the "cycle" for me—if I'm inclined to do a Writing or feel it needs it.

Toddlin' toward Losin' the Blues

While the pieces in the exhibit are quite varied, they all are connected to landscapes.  What draws you to this subject?

This is a direction that my "wandering eye" took me—for what reason, I know not, or why.  I adore the complex simplicity of and by Mother Nature—her greenery has captured my senses, all of my life!  Being of this Earth, which is all we know, I look forward to each Spring—these are all images of Spring I'd like to remember; holding them close to my love of Spring—and I am working on many more Spring pieces.

Tulips!

Light plays a strong role in many of your pieces but is often used to backlight elements of the image.  How should the viewer interpret this inner glow?

It had been mentioned to me, that the "inner glow" of my paintings may represent my religious or spiritual beliefs.  If this is so, then the naturalness of my pieces is manifested with markings of Nature's innate and wonderful complexion, which appears to us all—particular during its Awakening (Spring), when she flaunts and beguiles us with some of her best "outfits."

Follow our blog to meet the other artist featured in "Inspired Journeys" on view until October 9.