About the Artist ...
Pamela Gough is Brisbane based contemporary Australian Narrative Landscape Artist whose textured paintings are embedded with "Queenslanders", maps and celtic symbolism, inspired by the patterns in the landscape, across the country but featuring her home town of Brisbane. Historical maps are embedded into the paintings to make connections to the past, as she searches for authenticity by scratching at the surface to reveal stories beneath the painting to find the spirit of a place. "Beneath what we see are the lives and dreams of those who have walked here before us Those who built up the environement we are gifted with today". (c) 2006 "I love being a Tourist in my own Town" was a caption she coined when she first started researching Brisbane history. And My Story ...
Born in Brisbane, Pamela has a Diploma in Visual Arts and studied a range of art forms in the 1980's, including a partial Associate Diploma in Creative Arts at NBCAE with Art Teacher and Artist William Robinson. Pamela grew up in a creative family. She found strong connections with Australian colonial artists McCubbin and Roberts; the stylised and highly decorative illustrated work of illuminated Celtic manuscripts; architectural drawings and maps - and was made aware of the landmarks and environment around you whilst searching out old Queenslanders . Such a broad spectrum on which to build her passion for preserving character houses, respectful of built history and community values. In the 1990's Pamela built a successful art business "Final Touch - Decorative art"; painting commissions, "house portraits", and teaching folk art. She returned to study Visual Arts and Computer Graphics in 2005 and in the process renewed her love of painting on canvas. Pamela wrote and illustrated her book "My Brisbane" (2006), a project undertaken whilst studying for her Diploma. While researching and illustrating the book, she discovered the joys of "being a tourist in her own town", triggering a desire to understand more about her home town's colonial history. From that turning point, her art blossomed with a series "My Brisbane" and a Brisbane City Council Community project, and series "Mitchie Turns 150", in 2007. That energy and creativity, combining history and landscape, expanded through her "Qld 150" series (2009), with Impact on Moreton Bay" unveiling Pamela's work as a Tatteresalls Art Prize Finalist. Pamela continued to explore, the spirit of the places she visited. Her series "My Town" (2011), in the aftermath of the Brisbane Floods, celebrated community; and "Coast to Home" (2012) explored Queenslanders' love affair with the Beach. "In my Backyard" (2014) explored the local terrain in light of the demolition of many beautiful character houses in her neighbourhood, and she launched the reprint of her sold out "My Brisbane" book in the same year. Pamela then visited Ireland and Europe, exploring her family history and the celtic and medieval influences that were strongly connected and interwoven into her work. "The Way Back Home" (2015) solo exhibition found connections to her celtic ancestry in a year contrasted by many trying to immigrate, by boat, to these Australian shores. "Around the Place" (2018) gathered together artwork focused on places that were dear to her. During 2019-2020 Pamela concentrated on Commission Works, of which there were a few. And of course during the pandemic her 2020 Solo Exhibition "Road Trip" had to be cancelled and then even Graydon Gallery closed for good. 2022 saw a new Gallery space Impress Studio Gallery and the Road Trips coming together in new works for "Grounded", an exhibition about where we find our place and our heart no matter where we are. Pamela feels that with the energy and dynamics of a relatively young city, comes the risk of the loss of its humble heritage, architecture, and unwritten Aboriginal stories. So much is lost in Brisbane already and she feels called to paint the stories about homes and places, which gently reveal their history and sense of place to her, almost in memorium; trying to include the story all those who walked here before us, especially the First Nations People and their untold stories. Pamela paints commissions which provides an opportunity to travel others' journeys and experience shared stories about their beloved homes. Some of these can be experienced in "Commission works". Education and Experience
Awards, Achievements, Highlights
Works held in the collections of :
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