Pamela Grumbach

ARTIST STATEMENT George School Show- September 2010

In the past, my work has been focused on capturing the significance and beauty of a particular place. Images of land and water as well as a sense of peacefulness were what I primarily portrayed.

The focus for this exhibition, though, became a personal challenge: to accomplish what I often ask my students to do. I chose to do a body of work that would force me to attempt something new and to test my artistic flexibility. I also decided that this would be a good time to personally improve some of the techniques and skills that I spend much of my time teaching.

As I was contemplating this and anticipating my last year of teaching at George school, I decided to focus on a theme of people, not places. Since I have been a member of the George School Community for over 30 years, I decided to do a series of portraits of those still on campus who also shared my early years here. I then broadened my scope to include more of the adult members of the community. To accomplish my goals I took informal snapshots of some of my colleagues in May and June of 2010. This summer I worked to capture aspects of each person’s physical characteristics in paint, charcoal and pastel. While working, I was often drawn into musings about the individual. I thought about the gifts of each person that I painted and of the impact they have had on me and on this community.

Time restraints did not allow me to work with many of the images I collected and there are still many colleagues that I want to capture on canvas. In addition I continue to think of what I might try next with a portrait and how I might push beyond the artistry shown in this exhibition. Like many artists who are nearing the completion of a body of work, I feel that I am on the brink of a new freedom and direction in my work. This show is not about the portraits but about the particular people I have painted. I feel a great deal of excitement in what I have shared but also a frustration that I have not had the time to do more of you all.

Pamela Grumbach

George School

September 2010