Artist Statement

Like so many people who studied Art History in college and spent many happy hours trooping through museums and galleries looking at other people’s work, it wasn’t until I was able to put aside my safe job and lessen parenting responsibilities that I actually began to paint seriously. It has been a slow yet enthralling and rewarding process.

Over the past 20 years, I took studio art courses at Montserrat College of Art, attended numerous workshops, and studied with a number of excellent artists. Carleen Muniz, Ed Carson, Charles Sovak, William Davis, Jeff Weaver, and J.C. Airoldi have most recently been invaluable instructors. My personal style has emerged, haltingly and painfully at times, and it continues to develop.

Landscapes

Landscapes are a constant favorite challenge, particularly those that feature great distance. Open space and distant horizons are anchoring points for my work. Capturing distance and the play of light across that distance are mainstays in my compositions. By nature I am a flatlander, having grown up in the Midwest and then spending years living by the ocean in Massachusetts. Fields, marshes, open bodies of water – these are elements that offer a vastness which I try to capture. Recently, I have been working on a series of dune paintings based on dunes at Cranes Beach in Ipswich, and Cape Cod’s many beautiful beaches. Along with the marshes that surround both Ipswich and the Cape, these dunes are uninhabitable by people and belong to an eternal wildness. I find them extremely beautiful and moving.

Although I love to paint en plein air, most of my paintings are done in my studio from reference photos that I take as I travel. Surrounded by hundreds of photos, and with fresh plein air studies done on site, I can relive the beauty of New England during the coldest (or hottest!) day.

Figure Painting

My figure paintings are narrative. In them, children create worlds in sand, or adolescents strut with newfound powers; mature women analyze a passing life. Color and tone convey a feel of drama around the form.

Exhibitions and Galleries

My work has been shown in one person and group shows in Ipswich, Newburyport, Rockport, Boston, Cape Cod and Nova Scotia. I belong to the Newburyport Art Association and the Chatham Creative Art Center, and am an associate member of Rockport Art Association and the North Shore Art Association. My work is exhibited in Ipswich at River Gallery and Norris Gallery and Framing. Current paintings are available for viewing at my studio by appointment.

Contact Information for Pricing and/or Viewing

Email: pamturnbull[at]comcast.net
Phone: (978)356-3166

For Upcoming shows/exhibitions: www.ipswicharts.com/artists/turnbull.html