- Énoncé de l'artiste : Pamela Pike

This series of paintings is about the spirit of things and with most of these images in this series, my relationships to these things.

Touch. Body and Spirit. has evolved over a two-three year period in which many new experiences and changes took place. To be touched/moved/aroused by something implies for me, a lasting memorey of something and a bonding of spirit and intellect together. Our brain stores information, events, sensations, but our heart remembers them. This series then is about what has touched me these last few years. Some are more personal than others. Others are drawn from media sources. The presentation or lack of presentation of these sources aroused a variety of emotions in me. I have not painted all that has touched me. Some things are too personal while other are not fully comprehended or perhaps, it is a selective process of the heart and intellect.

When I first began this series, I was living in Montreal; then after having moved to Charlottetown, I spent a productive two years building this body of work. Within this time frame, the processing of this theme and my use of materials has evolved tremendously. On the one hand, my work became very regionalised - sea images; and on the other hand, globalized - the gulf war. These things affected me deeply. This series though ties the regional and global together in that all of my paintings are about the spirit of things and my concerns for our environment.

In the spirit of the environment, I see a constant exploitation of what was once termed natural, now termed resources/management/exports/commodity. The natural food chain has been slashed by man's conquest. A good example of insanity is the recent debate to kill the seals to fish the cod. At the root of all exploitation is an overwhelming need for wealth. I have very strong, and in someways, unrelenting views about our treatment of nature.

Technically, in this series, I have used a lot of found materials to emphasize certain images: in some cases tools used to exploit animals and humans; and as well the frames themselves have become a symbolic part of the whole image. In addition, symbols play a large part in my work. I want people to study and to get involved in each work. There is usually a story behind each one.

Lastly, I would like to say that this series began with very deep roots. In the last stage of this series, I incorporated a lot of found materials and new ways of putting together images. I owe a large part of that to my grandmother. I recently lost her and with her being very much in my heart, perhaps my memory of all our years together brought a lot of images together as well. She was always putting unusual objects, forms, and colours together. From mactacking furniture, tacking newspaper pictures on the walls, embroidering quilts and pillow cases, to endlessly pasting pictures and recipes in scrap books. She recycled long before it was coined; saved and collected everything. Most of all, she loved nature. She taught me more than she'll ever know. Her last words to me in person, "I love you more than you could ever know", will be with me always. This show, then is in memory of my grandmother - she who has touched me so deeply all of my life.

- PIKE, Pamela


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