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biographical information

Received a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice in 1981 and worked briefly in the field before changing career direction when in my late 20’s. In the last year of university academic life in Boston, discovered a clay studio and began making pots on the wheel. A couple of years abroad, first in Nottingham, and then in Bristol, England, furthered knowledge and experience of pottery and ceramics.

1981 – 82 - After graduating from university, moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, and immersion in clay began in earnest. Studied with potters Jeff Margolin at the University of California, Berkeley and with Coille Hooven and Andree Thompson at Laney College, Oakland (working as a technician). Attended the California College of the Arts in Oakland, CA, before earning dual degrees in Art and Humanities, and in Ceramics, from Laney College, Oakland.

1989 – 93 - Joined a ceramics cooperative in Berkeley, CA before moving to Paris, France. While living in Paris joined a cooperative, producing clay work for exhibition in several outlets. A move back to the San Francisco Bay area saw me teaching in the local schools, maintaining a studio, and running the San Francisco Woman Artists organisation for 10 years.  

1999 – present - moved to the UK, where I maintain a sculpture studio and practice. Exhibit sculpture throughout the UK and internationally.

siblings

ceramic work

moving into figure sculpture

first figure sculptures from life

Studio practice - Farthinghoe

teaching life sculpture using model

limited edition sculptures

self defined projects

focus on abstract figuration

limited edition sculptures

I have been a free-lance professional sculptor for over a decade. I specialize in abstract reinterpretations of the human form, creating pieces that reflect the themes of solitude and fleeting thoughts or emotions.

Artist Statement

self defined projectsFrom the Inside Out – Sulgrave Manor apple orchard - 2006

exploring grief, sorrow and loss

http://www.aidsquilttouch.org/panels/05231-3/605520

understand and cope with grief and loss, through curiosity and conversation

Routes of Sorrow: Grieving Without Finality

definitions

Chronic sorrow – grieving without finality

Transgenerational transference of sorrow – many studies in western countries have found that the transmission of unresolved sorrows and traumas of our parents, our parents’ parents, etc, can unwittingly occur, affecting the present generation.

“ [Trans]generational transmission of trauma is an integral part of human history. Transmitted in work, writing, body language and even in silence, it is a old as humankind.” Dr Yael Danieli

The project emerged from my own experience of growing up with severely autistic twin brothers.

I believe that a work of art can be viewed as an educational resource that reflects an exploration of psychological ideas and lived experiences.

Thank youI welcome your comments Please feel free to email me at

pfmail@btinternet.com

Or visit my website: www.pamfoley.co.uk

Attracted to the human form in the literal sense (using it as a vehicle to explore form) and in it’s metaphorical sense (exploring the shared experience).

“And yet when we actually set to work, extraordinary though it may seem, our first impression always is one of astonishment. Here, we feel, is something entirely new. There is something in the construction of human beings which fills one with amazement. Nothing is more intensely alive than a nude, nothing more sculptural, nothing more satisfying than shape, nothing gives more ending satisfaction. I speak for myself, but not only for myself, I think, when I say that there is no more rewarding occupation than work from the model. Even on a bad day, even when you are making a mess of things, it is impossible not to feel as the day takes shape and captures a suggestion of the beauty of the subject (in sculptural terms any model is beautiful), it is impossible, I say, not to feel that this is one of the best things that life can offer.”     Quentin Bell