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Mailing address:
Pamela Yates
Footprints Fine Arts
1887 Grand Avenue, Suite 11
Saint Paul, MN 55105
phone: (651) 698-1311
email: pamela@pamelayatesfineart.com
About Painting
Footprints Fine Arts
1887 Grand Avenue, Suite 11
Saint Paul, MN 55105
phone: (651) 698-1311
email: pamela@pamelayatesfineart.com
About Painting
My
education in the arts has been from mostly from non-traditional
sources. I'm mostly self-taught, benefited from informal
apprenticeships and independent study at Macalester College. I've
received a good dose of inspiration, instruction, mentoring and
invaluable friendship from four master artists: conceptual artist
Donald Celender who has since walked on, painter Joe
Geshick, potter Kevin Caufield and writer Eric Maisel. My
husband and extended family are the main support for my creative
life. I'm immensely grateful to artists and gallery
owners who share their
knowledge and experience.
Sometimes
the
idea for a painting arrives in a the space of a heart beat; other times I have
a concept that I need to noodle with until it's purpose is clear. I doodle on old pieces of paper. It's
too easy to get busy finding good paper and lose the idea olong the way. I like making very bad thumbnail
sketches, maybe including some colors and values. Sometimes I write descriptive words and notes about
textures, key, colors, feelings-whatever's going to help me remember
and visualize again what I wanted to capture in the painting.
After a sketch or outline is transfered to the support - canvas or board,
paper or other support - an underpainting helps set the values and gives me
another chance to check the composition and renew my sense of
the
purpose for the painting. Using oils or acrylics I put down a light value wash. I can wipe off
anything I don't like or paint over it. For watercolor paintings I make a light pencil sketch on the paper. I was taught to take time to
assess, re-assess and critique my own
paintings during all these stages --
and to start with good value sketches, to think about balance and
composition -- and
to always attempt to paint a
masterpiece. Why try for less? So I critique my own work as it
goes
along: is it a strong painting? Does
it say what I
want to say? Is the composition good? Do the values
support the work? With each painting
there's usually at least one time of terrible struggle
when the painting gets stuck or I do. It sometimes feels like it's all
falling apart right before it all starts to fall together again. Lots
of painters will tell you about these experiences.
And sometimes a good painting really does go bad and while
it's frustrating, it's
normal and we expect it once in a while. You have to know when to stop
working on a painting - shortly before you think it's finished. And you
have to know when to burn one and not try to salvage it. These are all
great lessons for the rest of life as well as in painting.
Biography
I was born and raised in South Australia in an area called the Adelaide Plains, traditional homeland of the Kaurna people and a sacred dream path for many tribes and ancestors for many thousands of years. From early childhood I was passionate about making art, passionate about shapes and colors in nature and the land. My journey since then has taken me to many different places and continents around the globe. I have that beautiful red earth of the Australian Plains in my DNA and, added to that, I come from a long line of Anglos-from France and England on my mother's side, from Cornwall and England on my father's side. I came a long way around the globe to the Great Sioux Nation, learned traditional Lakota lifeway and try to live that in a good way. In English my name is Pamela Yates, in Lakota my name is Mani Opeya Wamakaskag. It's my experience that art communicates on four levels through spirit, emotion, mind and body. Spirituality, rituals and ceremony are part of my life but I don't depict certain sacred objects out of respect for them.
Affiliations
• The Society of Layerists in Multi-media (SLMM)
• International Society of Experimental Artists (ISEA)
• Minnesota Artists MnArtists.org
• Bi-weekly columnist for a creativity newsletter-April 2008
• Featured by The Arts and Healing Network under
Inspiration as a healing artist) and
Artist Support as a career consultant
• Creativity Coaching Association
• Buffalo Calf Support Circle
Sometimes
the
idea for a painting arrives in a the space of a heart beat; other times I have
a concept that I need to noodle with until it's purpose is clear. I doodle on old pieces of paper. It's
too easy to get busy finding good paper and lose the idea olong the way. I like making very bad thumbnail
sketches, maybe including some colors and values. Sometimes I write descriptive words and notes about
textures, key, colors, feelings-whatever's going to help me remember
and visualize again what I wanted to capture in the painting. After a sketch or outline is transfered to the support - canvas or board,
paper or other support - an underpainting helps set the values and gives me
another chance to check the composition and renew my sense of
the
purpose for the painting. Using oils or acrylics I put down a light value wash. I can wipe off
anything I don't like or paint over it. For watercolor paintings I make a light pencil sketch on the paper. I was taught to take time to
assess, re-assess and critique my own
paintings during all these stages --
and to start with good value sketches, to think about balance and
composition -- and
to always attempt to paint a
masterpiece. Why try for less? So I critique my own work as it
goes
along: is it a strong painting? Does
it say what I
want to say? Is the composition good? Do the values
support the work? With each painting
there's usually at least one time of terrible struggle
when the painting gets stuck or I do. It sometimes feels like it's all
falling apart right before it all starts to fall together again. Lots
of painters will tell you about these experiences.
And sometimes a good painting really does go bad and while
it's frustrating, it's
normal and we expect it once in a while. You have to know when to stop
working on a painting - shortly before you think it's finished. And you
have to know when to burn one and not try to salvage it. These are all
great lessons for the rest of life as well as in painting. Biography
I was born and raised in South Australia in an area called the Adelaide Plains, traditional homeland of the Kaurna people and a sacred dream path for many tribes and ancestors for many thousands of years. From early childhood I was passionate about making art, passionate about shapes and colors in nature and the land. My journey since then has taken me to many different places and continents around the globe. I have that beautiful red earth of the Australian Plains in my DNA and, added to that, I come from a long line of Anglos-from France and England on my mother's side, from Cornwall and England on my father's side. I came a long way around the globe to the Great Sioux Nation, learned traditional Lakota lifeway and try to live that in a good way. In English my name is Pamela Yates, in Lakota my name is Mani Opeya Wamakaskag. It's my experience that art communicates on four levels through spirit, emotion, mind and body. Spirituality, rituals and ceremony are part of my life but I don't depict certain sacred objects out of respect for them.
Affiliations
• The Society of Layerists in Multi-media (SLMM)
• International Society of Experimental Artists (ISEA)
• Minnesota Artists MnArtists.org
• Bi-weekly columnist for a creativity newsletter-April 2008
• Featured by The Arts and Healing Network under
Inspiration as a healing artist) and
Artist Support as a career consultant
• Creativity Coaching Association
• Buffalo Calf Support Circle
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