Pamela Tate began her creative life as a dancer in Toronto before turning her hand to visual art. Living in rural Ontario for over thirty years now has influenced her approach to life and art, allowing her to embrace a gentle, quiet existence close to the natural world as she creates from the heart. Painting in acrylics with increasing use of mixed media, she has explored many subjects over the years but now focuses primarily on non-representational, intuitive pieces that explore the relationship between her personal evolution and the changes she observes on a global scale. She has no formal training but has worked with a mentor who helps to guide and encourage her through her various stages.

ARTIST STATEMENT:

“A recent visit to Iceland prompted me to consider how, both in our natural environment and our personal lives, things are not always as they seem. It is now widely understood, for example, that trees have an elaborate communication system that lies beneath the ground, unseen yet spectacularly complex and precise. Clearly Iceland has lots going on beneath the surface too about which we may be vaguely aware but which only truly makes itself known when a volcano erupts. Humans are multi-layered creatures, only unveiling parts of ourselves under certain circumstances. The truth is that everyone has aspects of themselves that they are not keen to share. Fair enough. Some of us spend a lifetime probing ever deeper into our own psyche, incrementally peeling back layers in order to better understand ourselves; it is a never-ending process of discovery. Such contemplation inspired this body of work - laying down paint, revealing, excavating, covering up and exposing again until something resembling truth comes into being. The parallels between art and life are undeniable. What actually lies beneath might surprise you.”

-Pamela Tate