About Pamela Barrios

Bio / Resumé

I grew up in Mobile, Alabama. I moved to New York City in my early twenties and completed a BA in English at the City University of NY, Lehman College.

I trained and worked in rare book conservation and book arts at the NY Botanical Gardens, the NY Public Library, Yale University Conservation Lab, and the NY Academy of Medicine. I also studied book art. I learned traditional leather binding and decoration, and also forms of sculptural painted paper works.

I moved to Provo UT to assume the position of rare book conservator at Brigham Young University and held this position for 20 years. I concurrently taught book arts at the University of Utah.

I earned a BS, Studio Art, at Utah Valley University.

At King’s Gallery and Academy of Art, I attended classes with Susan Gallacher, and a portrait painting workshop with Paul Davis.

I am now an independent fine artist.

Why I Paint

We call painted images on a flat surface “2-D”. But when we view them, our mind sees “3-D” images.

This is what fascinates me about painting and art. It’s an understanding of what our minds can do, and like to do. It’s what the painter Hans Hofmann called “push and pull”: the use of color, shape, and placement to make areas of a piece look closer or farther away. It’s the reason people stare at a painting and why I, as I paint, can lose track of time, also staring.

Sometimes it feels like a game, but I am serious about creating a scene or pattern that the viewer can experience, relate to, and remember. That’s why I paint.

Recent Shows

2020
- Nature and Memories (solo show), Feb 1 - Mar 6, 2020, Salt Lake City Library, Marmalade Branch, Salt Lake City, UT.

2019
- Eccles Art Center Annual Statewide Competition, Aug 2 – Aug 31, 2019, Ogden, UT.

2017
- Reflections: Recent Oil Paintings (solo show), July 7–Oct 27, 2017, BYU Library Auditorium Gallery, Provo, UT.
- First Annual SCERA Public Art Competition, Nov 1–Dec 31, 2017. SCERA Center for the Arts, Orem, UT.

2016
- Emerging Artists Primavera, May 27–June 24, 2016, Meyer Gallery, Park City, UT.
- Utah Women Artists Exhibition, Mar 10–Apr 20, 2016, Utah Cultural Celebration Center, West Valley City, UT.
- AmBank Invitational Art Show, 2016, Provo, UT.