Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Pamela T Hardiman. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Pamela T , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
I have done several projects for the Cathedral Basilica of St Francis of Assisi in Santa Fe, NM. Recently I visited Santa Fe for a conference and the cathedral was one of the venues for events. Normally, it is rare that I get to visit my installed work, and often I don’t even get photos of an installation. So I knew that actually being in this space would be a gift. It was even better. For the opening event, the Cathedral was dressed in its Easter fiber art – white highlighted by bursts of yellow and orange. Pieces made over time that all worked together liked I’d hoped. It was amazing to experience communal prayer in this space which has personal meaning for me. Two days later, the new dark green winter Ordinary Time banners I had made to debut at the conference went up – it was Ordinary Time after all. Lovely! And they worked with the vestments, despite me having no image in advance. To pray in such a gorgeous space with my work installed was such a gift!
Pamela T , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I design and craft vibrant liturgical fiber art made from fabrics made around the world. To me, this is an image of the universal church – the many and the one. I also paint silk fabric used for flowing banners and in combination with pieced fabrics. I’ve been doing this as my primary vocation for the past 22 years. But for many years prior, fiber art was part of “my other life,” my avocation. I was fortunate to be able to travel widely and take classes with some amazing quilters as quilting was just coming to be acknowledged as art. Quilts were hung on the walls of homes, commercial spaces, museums. As I pondered the bare brick walls of the chapel where I worshipped, I wondered, why not churches? So I designed my first piece, got approval to make it, and then was asked to make multiple coordinating pieces. This lead to a second, a third, and then other churches. A move to St Louis opened up new connections and opportunities. After co-authoring a book on banners, “Raise the Banners High”, published by LTP and spending several years coordinating religious education in our parish, a change in leadership provided the impetus to exhibit at the beloved and long lost art and environment conference, Form/Reform. I needed a banner in a form I could easily replicate, but that would still allow creativity, which became the Celebrate! Banner. My avocation became my vocation and I’m still making Celebrate! Banners, as well as vestments, paraments, wall hangings for churches, schools, hospitals, retreat centers, you name it!
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My mission is to help people pray more deeply, whether that is in communal or private prayer. Much of my work is done in the colors of the liturgical seasons – white, red, purple, green, and variations. In a liturgical church, the presider wears the correct liturgical color for the day or the season. There’s a calendar that gives the correct color. Different seasons have different feelings: penitential purple, celebratory white, the red of martyrs, and the green of ordinary time. Often, the only clue to the season is this vestment. But how much richer can that expression of color be! My use of images is very minimal. For the most part, I’m interested in saturation of color and combining fabrics from many peoples. When we take the time to enter a worship space ahead of a service and experience that color, it can help us hear at a deeper level.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of the work I do is experiencing worship in a setting where I have made the fiber art. I started out doing this for myself. In my experience, the more of myself I can put into my work, the more universal the connection with others. It’s also rewarding to see and hear how my work, which I may never see again after it leaves my studio, affects others. It is a gift to do what I do.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://PTHardiman.com
- Instagram: @PamelaTHardiman
- Facebook: @PamelaTHardiman
