Pamela Caughey grew up in Wisconsin, where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from UW-Madison in 1983.
After moving with her family to Hamilton, MT in 1986, she began her serious study of art, and in 2010 received her MFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of Montana School of Art.
She works in many media, with special interest in cold wax/oil, encaustic, mixed media and acrylic.
As I began each new work, early free-flowing chaotic stages push me to ask and answer an endless string of questions which guide each mark, brushstroke, color, and shape. As each painting evolves, I realize how truly orchestrated and finely tuned it becomes by the time I consider it finished. Though abstraction may appear as a nonsensical, easy, thoughtless, and simple way of slapping paint on, non-objective, abstract expressionist painting continues to challenge me on many levels and is the opposite of “simple”. The painting process creates a challenging conversation between surface and subconscious that is loud and unsettling when there is discord and disagreement between what is felt and hoped for, versus what lies before me.
As problems are resolved, the conversation eventually becomes quiet, but only after many crescendos and decrescendos of the malleable surface. My ultimate goal is to push out of my comfort zone to discover something new about myself, life, or the world around me, and to evoke an emotional response through a visual history of manipulated layers. I continue to reach from within to express what for me is often better expressed through abstraction and experimentation. Multiple layers capture snapshots of time, experience, happiness, frustration, i.e., life. Art and life are intertwined and are not simple, straightforward, predictable, or easy.
I choose to paint and draw in a variety of mediums to challenge myself and ensure that I will always have new problems to solve, as well as multiple ways to express myself. I am inspired when, with paint, I make discoveries of my inner world from the inside out. I rely almost wholly on an intuitive and expressive approach that juxtaposes opposing elements: opaque and transparent, organic and geometric, textured and smooth, large and small, dark and light.
Rather than literal renderings of my environment, I strive to create emotional content. Being surrounded by mountains, valleys, forests and sunlit meadows is a great inspiration to the senses, but when I paint, my colors, surfaces and tools entice me to explore the unknown. Rather than paint what I see and understand, I paint without knowing and hope I will discover something. I strive for a finished painting that expresses something that can’t be verbalized, only visualized and experienced. My hope for “Simply Not” is that the audience will find something of themselves they too could not verbalize, only visualize and experience.
