Pam Rogers assembling a site specific bound-plant sculpture at Studio H. Photo courtesy Studio H gallery.
There are currents that run through the work of Pam Pagers. They began when humans became aware of beauty in the common bits of their tiny universes. They are both simple and complex: the currents of connection.
.
Her drawings, paintings and sculptures are also both simple and complex. They evolve from the simplicity of the idea and complexity of the processes needed to reach those bonds that bring us together. She connects with artists through the ages by making her pigments from the minerals and plants that make a place special. If she is in Puget Sound, she might make them out of native plants and algae. In Colorado, she might grind up local minerals, clays and prairie grass.
.
She then lets each work take her where it wants to go. The only preconceived notion is that she likes open space. Not “negative space,” it becomes positive—every square inch of the paper is of equal importance. Like plants in nature, her forms couldn’t thrive without the open air. They become a floral language, natural, even biological, but only loosely organic, waiting for your interpretation. That’s how she pulls you in.
.
Pam Rogers. Summergrass: 98 feels like 111. Mixed Media on Paper. 18 x 23. Photo Courtesy of the Artist.
She takes a similar approach with sculpture. She gathers earth materials and wraps them up with natural binding. This has little to do with making an environmental statement—it is not consciously a “green” sculpture. It is about how humans connect with the planet.
.
Pam grew up in Colorado, and has lived in Boston and Atlanta before coming to Washington. Her first degree was in Art History, and while she liked teaching and writing about the accomplishments of others, she really wanted to create. She earned an MFA at the Savanna College of Art and Design.
She says that much of what she has gone through in living and learning is “constrictive.” But, like the bound fragments of nature in her sculpture, there is still room to grow and the power to break free.
.
Editor’s note: Pam Rogers recently exhibited at Studio H in a body of work entitled Autumnal Equinox. Pam Rogers’ website is www.pamrogersart.com
East City Art Profiles—Artists of Breathe: Embracing the Uncertainties of the Human Condition
The group exhibition, curated by Cheryl D. Edwards, includes artists Timothy DeVenney, Nestor Gil, Mary Welch Higgins, Curlee Raven Holton, Lisa K. Rosenstein and Michelle Talibah.
Embodying what she called an “organic geometry,” Nancy Frankel’s sculpture is a testament to the richness of her inspiration, whether it came from the hidden mathematical structures of nature or those inherent in music.
The 50 States Project Part One: Seventeen States and a Global Pandemic
Artists Kate Fleming and Tom Woodruff are heirs to the North American propensity for continental wanderlust. Their 50 States Project follows a long-standing tradition of roaming from coast-to-coast in search of America.
Luis Peralta Del Valle: Ambassador of Peace, Hope and Love
When DC Mayor Muriel Bowser visited Beijing in 2016, she presented Mayor Guo Jinlong with a work of art as a token of peace and renewed friendship between Beijing and its Sister City of Washington, DC. Titled “Geared Up Panda,” the life-sized statue of a panda, the symbol of China,...