Pamela Berkeley attended classes at the Art Students League and the School of Visual Arts in New York City as a teenager. She received a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design, and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting. She had her first solo show at the G.W. Einstein Gallery in 1977, and was represented by them for the next twenty years. When that gallery closed in the 1990’s Berkeley joined the United Scenic Arts Union, painting sets for film, TV and Broadway. In 2015 she joined Blue Mountain Gallery, where there were friends she had known for 40 years.
“I make paintings from close observation of nature, and combine still life, landscape, and portraits of people and animals. I don’t have backgrounds in my work. My main preoccupation in painting is the tension between the still objects close to the picture plane and the distant imagery that is farthest away. Foreground and what is behind are of equal importance, painted at the same time, side by side, locked into each other. In fact, in a work of lace curtains, sometimes only the holes are made of paint, not the threads.
As tightly drawn as my work is, there is an underlying influence of my love for abstract painting, all shown in the use of color, paint and brushwork. My works are done in oil on canvas or linen, and range in size from 8 In. x 8 In. to 6 Ft. by 8 Ft. Besides paintings of Maine, Massachusetts and New York City, I made a series of portraits of actor and artist friends arranged in odd environments.
Berkeley has been a professional artist for over 55 years, exhibiting nationally, including at 12 museums. She lived and worked in New York City and in Montville, Maine from 1975 to 2002, then moved to Sheffield, MA. Awards include National Endowment for the Arts, NYS Council for the Arts, the Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation grant. I exhibit at the Blue Mountain Gallery in NYC, and throughout the US.
Recent Exhibitions:
From the Hollow, Nov 29 – Dec 24, 2022
Then And Now, Nov 27 – Dec 22, 2018
