We were lucky to catch up with Pamela Palma recently and have shared our conversation below.
Pamela, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
I have been creating with fiber since childhood when I began to design my own textile things. I just always loved the endless possibilities provided by yarn, thread, and cloth, The textures. The patterns. The colors. The reward of making something from nothing that no one else has is very appealing. That for me is the key – having what no one else has. That is everything. That is art.
That creative desire is always with me, in me, like a fire that cannot be extinguished. As my life unfolded, opportunities presented for me to explore a variety of meaningful avenues in exotic locales as well as new to me art mediums. I painted, threw pots, sculpted. I worked in museum and in my studios. I grabbed every opportunity I could to learn more, experience more. My life has been an adventure, fuller and richer as a result. And so much fun!
Eventually I channeled all of that energy into the direction of fiber art, my earliest passion that rode through life’s explorations with me. My endless desire to work with yarn, thread, and cloth. I wanted to absorb everything I could related fiber art, textile design, and fashion design. Weaving totally caught me by surprise. It was beyond my expectations as an art form. Weaving on complex looms became the turning point, the focal point of my career. The timelessness of weaving is magical. Seeing cloth I am making form before my eyes is magical. That magic lures me back to my looms time and again.
Pamela, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I design and weave distinctive art cloth on large floor looms. Over time I have focused on wall art, installation art, art to use, and art to wear. My mixed media wall incorporates unexpected materials – paper, plastic, ephemera, and money! Lots of actual money! I weave with money to express effects of money on society and our lived world.
The directions my art takes me is something that is not defined by the linear terms of a 9-5 job. There is an etheric component, like I am being impulsed by unseen energies. Muses. Goddesses. They connect me to ideas using color and pattern woven into visuals. I am compelled to create them using my skills as a designer and weaver. It is not an easy process but it speaks to my personality on many levels.
My company, Pamela Palma Designs, is a platform for my creations. I am currently focused on designing one of a kind decorative accessories. I have collections of table linens – place mats, table runners, centerpieces, towels; and Tiny Tapestries – small woven artworks, impressions of landscapes and seascapes. Each item is unique, like us! My design ethic is centered on contemporary artworks with a nod to the tradition of hand woven items. I am constantly challenging my skill set to create new, complex designs, beautiful cloth that is desirable.
We need beauty around us! And we crave the connection to that long thread of things made by human hands going back eons. That connectivity is what anchors us in a world that moves so fast. It gives meaning, purpose.
What sets me apart from other weavers is that I design all of my art myself. I do not use computers or kits. I work from traditional weaving patterns which I modify into contemporary aesthetics. I never make the same thing twice – because we are individuals deserving of having unique hand made things that reflect our individuality. In a world of mass production, I feel very strongly that this is essential to our sanity, to acknowledge and celebrate who we are.
Weaving is very old and very much alive to this day! Weaving came into being all across the globe to all cultures, before the beginning of time. Interestingly, every culture has an origin story that describes how
weaving was given to them by Spirit.
Woven cloth is such a universal component, we take it for granted, like breathing. We rarely think of it as a thing designed and made, on looms going back to before the beginning. Yet we are wrapped in woven cloth from the moment of birth to the moment we pass on. With scarcely a thought! Think about all the textiles we touch on any given day – bedding, towels, table linens, clothing, carpets, upholstery – we take it all for granted!
But there is a depth to it, how it was made, the hands and minds that create each fabric. And when it is hand made, hand woven, there is an energy of the maker in it which is absent in mass production.
I offer all kinds of weaving classes to encourage people to dip their toes (or fingers) in the waters of weaving to get the feel of using their hands to make their own magic. It gives satisfaction, absolute pleasure and joy. My classes are fun, inventive; they are opportunities for anyone to express their own innate creativity through yarn.
I am most proud of the fact that I have been weaving for a long time. That I am on the thread connecting me to those who have woven before me and those who will come later. My art receives awards. I am invited to exhibit in galleries and museums; people from across the globe collect my work. I followed my heart, I listened to my intuition and kept going long before it was trendy to be a fiber artist. I use my talents to create beauty for others and I have inspired others to do so as well.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
It will be amazing when people begin to celebrate their individuality. Society was built on false models of sameness, over consumption of same things, endless quest for more of what everyone else has.
Yet this craving is really a quest for self identity and recognition as a unique and special person. Supporting artists, small businesses, acquiring items of enduring quality bring endless satisfaction to our lives. Cheap, fast products cost more in the long run because this system is unsustainable, exploitive of laborers and the environment and cheap merch need to be replaced often!
Weaving is “slow cloth.” The process is multi faceted. It takes to make things that endure. The result is that my towels, for example, can be used daily for years and years and are still thick, absorbent, beautiful!
Society can best be served by promoting artists, creatives, those of us who make things by hand. Hand made products are more valuable than anything mass produced by virtue of the human hands that form it, the human ingenuity that thought to make it, the creative genius who figured out how to do it and did it.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
It is incredibly rewarding to be an artist. I am creative. I like fiber. I can make things! With my hands! It’s amazing! What better reward is there than making? I am incredibly grateful to be do this and to share my gifts.
Making beauty. Weaving the past into the future through the present.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.pamelapalmadesigns.com
- Instagram: @PamelaPalmaDesigns
- Facebook: Pamela Palma Designs and Pamela Palma
Image Credits
all images Pamela Palma Designs