Today we’d like to introduce you to Pamela Beach.
Hi Pamela, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I began making art as a little kid, and always felt like creating was my primary language. Though I got a BFA from BYU in 2001, and exhibited for a time afterward, when I began having children, the art making had to shift. I wanted to involve my children and so every project had to be something that we could all do. This meant I didn’t do any oil painting for about 15 years, but I did make large street murals, community art projects, and anything related to what my children were interested in. When the pandemic hit, my husband began working from home. My six children were getting older and the idea of painting crept in again. I wondered if I could even do a Master’s Degree now that our circumstances were a little different. I applied to the U, got accepted, and attended from August 2023 – May 2025. I enjoy a huge range of art making – with many community projects, personal projects, and art with my own children.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No not at all. One of the struggles was when my first two children were small. It was impossible to paint and for a short time I felt really bad about that. But it got too heavy a burden to carry, so I needed to figure it out. That’s when I decided that I needed to broaden my definition of art making. I asked myself many questions – was art more important in a museum, or making it in your home with your kids? Did I need to have an audience to be considered important? Did kids truly rob you of creativity, or is that a lie? In searching for answers to these questions, I defined a really beautiful life for myself and my artistic practice, and I didn’t really see other peers doing it. They were all painting and getting into shows. They were selling. I consciously left that to carve out something that worked for me and my children, and something that made us all really happy.
It is still always a challenge to get time to paint. I am faced near constantly with caregiving versus painting choices, and almost always the caregiving wins out and I end up painting late at night. But I always want to go to bed knowing I tried to put my kids first. I never want them to grow up and think the art was more important than them . Art history is strewn with stories of artists who were bad parents.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am primarily an oil painter, creating contemporary portraits and also narratives of my own social concerns. I paint childhood creative spaces – kids at play. I feel like childhood is vanishing and society wide, we are offering one of the worst childhoods in history. So much of my work focuses on this, almost like a conservationist. I’m trying to draw attention to the extinction of childhood as we let technology colonize their minds.
How do you define success?
Success for me is if I set up parameters for myself with a painting, and I really struggled. If I am struggling, I am learning, and I like that. I want to become really fluent in the language of paint, so i define success by if I am learning.
Pricing:
- Yes, I price by the square inch. A 18″ x 24″ painting is around $1500, a 3′ x 4′ is around $4000
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.davidericson-fineart.com/artists/pamela-beach/
- Instagram: @pamelabeachart
