Pam-ela Harrelson

Artist Statement

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty”

– that is all ye know on earth and all ye need to know.

– John Keats

Ode on a Grecian Urn

Growing up, the meaning of that line from Keats’ poem haunted me. As a teenager it was all about outward physical beauty and the endless attempt to achieve it. Many years have passed and I have come to peace with this statement. Outward beauty is so transient and changes from day to day and from generation to generation. Although I still admire the handsome creatures that inundate popular culture, today I see truth and beauty more in the everyday, the ordinary, the extra-ordinary, creativity from past generations, the interesting nameless faces of people that filter in front of me online each day. I draw upon these many interests to compile into my dimensional pieces.

The one advantage of being my age is that I have a lifetime of influences and experiences to draw upon. From my past as a commercial artist, I draw upon love of the letterform and great graphic design of the modern era. As a college professor, I learned as much as I taught about art history and the process of drawing, painting, and creative thinking. As a lover of past pop culture, I have a great appreciation of design, style, furniture, architecture, cinema, toys, and ephemera from the art deco era to current day. I am influenced by many portrait and figurative artists that include the Impressionists, Viennese Secessionists (most notably Klimt and Schiele), and many more. I admire the structure of modern architecture and industrial design in its use of simplified form to the whimsy of the Dadaists and constructive nature of Nevelson and Stella. I am humbled by the ever changing creativity of Picasso.

I like the process of constructing a scene, a possibility, a moment captured into a multi-layered design creating figures and objects that seem to come alive and break free of the standard boxed canvas. I construct and deconstruct as needed. I make no distinction between my graphic background and the fine arts. I am a collector of things of value and discard that I find beautiful. If I have something at hand, there is a good chance it may end up in a piece of my art.

Pam-ela Harrelson - Artist Bio

I have a long history of creating and teaching commercial art. From my work as an art director, graphic designer, illustrator, and college professor, I draw upon a vast knowledge of creativity, design, hand skills, and digital know how. To start, I graduated from the University of North Texas with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Advertising Art and a Master of Arts degree from Texas Woman’s University. I continue to work in the graphics field while I develop my body of artwork until I am able to devote all of my time to this notion. I am a lover of things from the past which includes toys, classic movies, fashion, design, art, technology, architecture, and other ephemera. I like to assembly bits and pieces of these elements into dimensionally constructed pieces of art whether it be large wooden, figurative captures or smaller handmade cards and prints. I like the process of creativity and bringing all of my history into cohesive, exciting works of art.

Education:
Bachelor of Fine Art Advertising Art UNT
Master of Art Graphic Design/Painting TWU

After obtaining a BFA degree, I began my career working in the Dallas area as an Art Director, Graphic Designer, and Illustrator. I worked full-time for five years at various ad agencies and design firms before starting my own graphics and illustration business of which I continued for many years. During this time, I served as a member and president of the Dallas Society of Illustrators where I helped organize and coordinate monthly meetings, juried national competitions, and workshops. I returned to graduate school to earn a MA and began teaching a wide range of computer graphics, design, and art courses at multiple colleges and universities in the Dallas and surrounding areas. Today, while I continue to work in the graphics arena, I have a studio where I work as a fine artist exhibiting multi-dimensional, figurative creations and small hand crafted cards and prints.