Meet Pam Douglas | visual artist & writer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Pam Douglas and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Pam, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Every original artist takes a risk with each mark or word or note. It’s an act of faith to leap into the unknown. Unlike the interpretive arts such as acting, directing, and instrumental performance that build on an underlying creation, the painter confronting a blank canvas or writer staring at a blinking cursor manifests a world out of nothing. Well, it’s not truly nothing because we are filled with the troubles and glories of life, and inspirations from other art. But for me, when I start a new sculpture or page, I have no external guarantee that image is the truest expression of what I mean, and equally important, if it will be meaningful to someone else. I go forward on faith alone.

It’s been that way through my adult life. I moved to Los Angeles soon after college with one suitcase and a coat made for New York winters. I didn’t know anyone, had no money and nowhere to live, taking a risk on a job at a start-up that collapsed within the year.

Months earlier, 3,000 miles away, after my phone had been cut off for non-payment, I was walking down a New York street wondering how I’d get by, and I passed a crazy lady who was shouting into the wind. She screamed “Life has corners. You can’t see around the bend but it’s there.” That stuck with me. One year after that hard day, I had a big desk on the 14th floor of the tower at Universal Studios and drove a Mercedes convertible. I hadn’t seen around the corner.

I’d gotten that Universal job by taking a risk. The studio honchos were interviewing many good candidates. I guess most of them flattered the bosses. But I took a chance. I criticized their current fare and proposed movies they wouldn’t make. My unemployment insurance from the failed start-up was running out, I still had no money and no other job offer. Maybe being so honest was nuts, but I got the job.

Please don’t misunderstand – this is not about magic or luck. Whatever I’ve done has been about the work, and what the work was really for. Always trusting the work. Some artists thank their mentors and connections. I’ve had no mentors. In those early years no one helped me do anything, and I faced opposition and bias. Still, I went forward on faith alone. It was faith in the power of what I had to do.

“Person of faith” often refers to adherents of certain religious traditions. That’s not me. I’m speaking of a core force to make art for good. Most of my work wouldn’t sell for home or office or hotel décor. Sure, I understand that’s where the money is. But my work is mostly about social justice – currently global refugees – and human elevation. It’s risky.

Now, decades after that early studio position, I recently took another leap into the unknown. Having won awards and been a professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts for years, I left my job to do art full time. In addition to sculptures and paintings, I’m working on a graphic novel titled “Bearing Witness” that is different from any other book out there – serious drama but not a novel or documentary, illustrated but not comic-book illustrations, fine art but with character-driven stories. All wrong for the marketplace. A risk. But beautiful, I think.

So here I am, again, going forward on faith alone.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am a Los Angeles mixed-media artist whose recent two and three-dimensional work honors the courage of refugees.

For the past seven years, my art has been about refugees because people forced to flee violence and climate change encapsulate the human adventure and the value of individual lives. Now more than ever, we need a space for shared humanity.

My Sanctuary project that concluded in 2021 incorporates sculptures, drawings, paintings, and assemblages. In Part One figures walked to safety in wall-hung assemblage panels. In Part Two I constructed 3-dimensional rafts that escaped across a gallery floor. Part Three were survivors in handmade tents.

Then, at the close of Sanctuary, I felt compelled to go further. In 2022 I expanded to an artbook/ graphic novel, “Bearing Witness,” that tells the stories of refugee families. It is now with a literary agent.

In 2023 I created life-size “Witness” sculptures that add universal dimension. The 12 Witnesses echo 12 in a jury, 12 apostles, and the passage of time. Their eyes made of mirrors cue the visitor to become a witness too, attesting to history.

I aim to move the conversation away from statistics to empathy for each experience. My goal is to create accessible art that communicates to a wide audience.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Los Angeles has become an international art capital, like New York, London and Paris. The major art fairs arrive each winter with art celebrities that convene with deep pocket investors. All this has nothing to do with actual artists that work here. So I would advise a visitor not to arrive in February. Instead, I’d invite them to the vibrant multi-cultural art world that is the real L.A. So much innovative, original art is simultaneously on display that a visitor could go to exhibits every day for months and not see it all.

I suppose I’d start with a few great institutions in Exposition Park – The California African American Museum next to the Science Museum, and the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art when it opens in a year or so. We’d also visit the Cheech Museum for its collection of Chicano art. But then I’d focus on the diverse enclaves including small non-profits like LAUNCH LA, ArtShare, the Los Angeles Art Association/Gallery 825 and independent galleries like Band of Vices and Charlie James in Chinatown. We might go to several art districts – downtown, Culver City, Bergamot Station and others for a walk through of whatever is showing at that moment. And I’d point out the rich public art on murals throughout town. It would be a dizzying experience of possibilities. That’s how it feels to be an artist here.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Kristine Schomaker, ShoeboxartsLA

Website: http://pamdouglasart.com

Instagram: @pamdouglasart

Facebook: pamdouglasart