Today we’d like to introduce you to Pamela Johnson.
Pamela, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Although I have always had an interest in the arts, my education was actually in engineering. After graduating, I worked for several years as an engineer in the construction industry in San Francisco. During that time, I independently pursued my interest in the arts, through painting, figure drawing, and ceramic sculpture. In 2003, I took my first step towards a career in the arts when I was awarded an artist in residency at The Institute of Ceramic Studies at Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park in Shigaraki, Japan.
Shortly after my return from Japan, I decided to seek a new direction in my life and to focus on art as a career. I uprooted from my native California, left my career in engineering, and made a new home in Chicago. There I found a thriving emerging artist culture that provided me with opportunities to continue to develop my own work within a community of other working artists. Since then, I have to exhibit my work throughout Chicago and the United States. My most recent body of work, the American Still Life, has been featured in The Artist’s Magazine, Creative Quarterly, Chicago Home & Garden, as well as numerous other magazines, papers and online publications.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Making a living as an artist is very challenging. I have always had to balance my art with a means to make a steady income. Galleries have asked me to change my work to be more salable. Ultimately, I decided that it was more important to me to create work that is truly my own over the preferences of a gallery or buyer. As a result, I have a day job and that creates a challenge of finding the time to make my work. In many ways, separating necessary income from the creating of art has been very freeing, allowing me to explore more and express myself in a more true way.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Pamela Michelle Johnson Artist story. Tell us more about the business.
I am an artist. In simplistic terms, I paint junk food. I see junk food as cultural icons and feel that these foods are emblematic of many aspects of American culture. We live in a culture of excessive consumption, where quantity is often preferred over quality. I feel that my images of the mass-produced, artificially flavored, and overly preserved foods that are so prevalent in our society provide an inviting way to talk about these aspects of our culture.
I think that what we choose to eat often reflects other choices that we make in our lives. It is very easy when someone is immersed in a culture from childhood to never step back and examine that way of life.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
When you work very hard, occasionally opportunities present themselves. When those opportunities have presented themselves, I have worked hard to make them into a success. From the outside, this often looks like luck. Good luck takes a lot of work.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.pamelamichellejohnson.com
- Email: email@pamelamichellejohnson.com
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