Artist Statement of Pamela Soldwedel
"Listen, there is a turning, all things are turned to a roundness,
wherever there is an end from it springs a beginning."
Hotel Universe, Philip Barry |
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Swirling, undulating, concentric forms can often suggest more meaning and yet contain more enigma than if specifically lifelike. Through the use of organic shapes in stone, bronze or mixed media, recalling humans or animals without specifically simulating either, I seek to incorporate the passion, mystery and ambiguity that is central to the human experience.
Out of seemingly immutable materials, I work to create the sensual, enjoying the challenge of causing them to seem soft and flowing.
In many of my pieces, I have sought overall continuity of line. However, others display breaks representing disrupted life cycles. Sections have been sliced open to symbolize trauma: separation from a loved one; emotional crisis; illness or physical disability wrenching enough to produce breakdown of spirit and body. These potentially distressing sculptures nevertheless, are actually filled with hope. Close examination reveals that the separations are made in such a way that they may be rejoined. Life continues, although scarred, and the strengthened spirit resumes its cyclical journey. |
Biography...
Pam creating "Nuance" |
Pamela Soldwedel, a native New Yorker, studied sculpture at Bennington College and the Corcoran College of Art. She has had numerous solo and group exhibitions both in the U.S. and abroad, including a group exhibition at The National Museum of Women in the Arts. Her work can be found in the collections of the Tudor Place Historic House and Garden in Washington, D.C., as well as the DeCordova Museum & Sculpture Park and the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong. She has received numerous art awards, the most recent of which was the 2007 prize from the Art League of Washington’s Washington Square Sculpture exhibit.
Ms. Soldwedel’s sculptures are mixed media abstractions, joining layered stone and metal, plastics, glass and wood. She expresses her feelings through working with a stone’s color, texture and grain to create her abstract stone sculptures. |
Exhibitions of Pamela Soldwedel...
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS |
2009 The Watergate Gallery, The Watergate Mall, 2552 Virginia Avenue, NW, Washington, DC
2008 Sculpture Atrium in The Corporate Office Centre at 1600 Tysons II, McLean, VA.
2008 Law offices of Covington & Burling, LLP, 1201 Pennsylvania Avene, NW, Washington, DC.
2008 Sculpture Atrium in The Corporate Office Center at 1800 Tysons II, McLean, VA
2007 Atrium Lobbies in The Corporate Office Centre at 1650 and 1750 Tysons II, McLean, VA
2007 Sculpture Atrium in The Corporate Office Centre at 1600 Tysons II, McLean, VA
2006 Sculpture Court at The Corporate Office Centre at Tysons II,
McLean, VA
2006 Corporate Center at Tysons II, McLean VA
2005 Sculpture Court at The Corporate Office Centre at Tysons II,
McLean, VA
2005 The Parker Gallery, 629 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, DC
2005 International Gateway, 8100 Boone Boulevard, Vienna, VA
2003 Sculpture Court at The Corporate Office Centre at Tysons II,
McLean, VA
2003 The Atrium, 2100 M Street, N.W., Washington, DC
2002 Sculpture Court at The Corporate Office Centre at Tysons II,
McLean, VA
(March and again in September)
2001-2 The Atrium, 2100 M Street, N.W., Washington, DC
2000-1 Sculpture Court at The Corporate Office Centre at Tysons II, McLean, VA
2000 The Albany Museum of Art, Albany, GA
1998 Sculpture Court at the Corporate Office Centre at Tysons II,
McLean, VA
1997 White Flint Ltd., Bethesda, MD
1994-6 Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD
1994-5 American Center for Physics, College Park, MD
1994 Gilpin Gallery, Alexandria, VA
1992-4 National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC
1993 U.S. Embassy, Brussels, Belgium
1988 Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI
1987 Andreas Gallery, Washington, DC
1987 Mount Vernon College, Washington, DC
1986 Covington & Burling, Washington, DC
1982 First American Bank, Washington, DC |
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
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Sculpture Atrium at The Corporate Office Centre at Tysons II, McLean, VA (2009)
Washington Sculptors Group, Washington, DC (2009)
Washington Square Invitational, Washington, DC (2008)
Washington Project for the Arts/Washington Sculptors Group, Washington, DC (2008)
Washington Sculptors Group, Washington, DC (2008)
The Art League, Alexandria, VA (2007)
Washington Sculptors Group, Washington, DC (2007)
Washington Sculptors Group, Washington, DC (2006)
VisArts, Rockville, MD (2006)
Washington Square Invitational Exhibition, Washington, DC (2005)
Sculpture Court at The Corporate Office Centre at Tysons II, McLean, VA (2004)
Washington Sculptors Group, Washington, DC (2003)
The Parker Gallery at Mickelson's, Washington, DC (2002-2003)
National Museum for Women in the Arts, Washington, DC (2000-2001)
Washington Sculptors Group, 505 Gallery, Washington, DC (1999)
WSH Square Limited Partnership, Washington, DC (1997-1998)
The law offices of Tucker, Flyer and Lewis, P.C., Washington, DC
The John A. Wilson Center Washington DC and the Japan Information & Culture Center, Washington, DC.(1996)
The Embassy of France, Washington DC
The Corcoran Hemicycle Gallery, Washington, DC
The John A. Center, Washington, DC (1995)
The WSG Washington Square Park Exhibitions (1997, 1995, 1993)
The Franklin Square Exhibition Space and the Washington, DC Artists Equity/Awards Exhibition Show, Annandale, VA (1993)
The Fairfax, VA Council of the Arts
The Montgomery County, MD Arts Council Exhibition Carspecken-Scott Gallery, Wilmington, DE (1992)
The National Academy of Sciences (1993-1992)
The Govinda Gallery and the Gilpin Gallery (1992)
The Touchstone Gallery, Washington, DC (1990)
The Old State House in Hartford, CT (1987)
Audubon Society
The DC Slide Registry of artists
The Artists Equity/Washington Sculptors Show (1985)
The d'Amecourt Art Gallery
First American Bank, N.A., Washington, DC
The Main Street Gallery, Nantucket, Massachusetts (1982)
The Meridian House International, Washington, DC
The Parrish Art Museum of Southhampton, NY (1981)
The Arts Club of Washington, DC (1980,1994,1996)
The Pan American Health Organization, Washington, DC (1979)
The Art Barn of Washington, DC (1978, 1980, 1983, 1985, 1989, 1993). |
SELECTED PUBLIC AND CORPORATE COLLECTIONS |
| Tudor Place, Washington, DC
Albany Museum of Art, Albany, GA
DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA
National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD
North Carolina Granite Company, Mount Airy, NC
Robert H. Kellen Company, Atlanta, GA
U.S. Consulate, Hong Kong
J.P. Morgan Chase, New York, NY
Collection of Carl Djerassi, San Francisco, CA
American Center for Physics, College Park, MD
U.S. Embassy, Brussels, Belgium |
Awards...
| 2007 Prize, Art League of Washington, Washington Square sculpture show
2005 Grant from the E.D. Foundation, NY
1995 Merry Slocum Bean Award, Artists Equity, Washington, DC
1993 R.G.C. Merit Award, Artists Equity, Washington, DC
1982 Martha von Hirsch Award, Corcoron School of Art
1982 Mary Lay Thom Award, Corcoran School of Art |
Press & TV...
PRESS |
| “Richard Barrett and Pamela Soldwedel”, Review of Parker Gallery exhibition by Louis Jacobson, Washington City Paper, May 27, 2005.
"Washington Sculptor displays 10 works in a one-person show," Times Community Newspapers, June 17, 1998.
"'Tempest' is one of the 10 sculptures by Pamela Soldwedel on display, " The Washington Times, June 25, 1998.
Diane Cole, "Transfigured Stones," The Montgomery County Sentinel, August 14, 1997.
"Prize-winning Washington, D.C. sculptor Pamela Soldwedel displays seven works in a one-person exhibition," The Montgomery County Sentinel, July 24, 1997.
"Mantra” is among seven sculptures by Pamela Soldwedel on exhibit," The Washington Times, August 21, 1997.
Laura Way, "Exploring the Shape of Human Emotions," The Montgomery County Journal, July 25, 1997.
Barbara Cohn, "Revered Stone," Washington Artists News, Vol. 25, No. 1, Spring, 1996.
"Atrium Art: Sculptures in the Square," The Washington Post, January 13, 1995.
Fredrica Wechsler, "Arts in the Academy," Footnotes, National Academy of Sciences/ National Research Council, December 1994.
Robert Von Brahler-Murray, "Touring the Art Galleries of Alexandria," Art & Antiques, DCI Publishing, March, 1994.
Lori Spalding, "Gilpin Gallery is 'Back Home' in Old Town," Old Town Crier, April, 1994.
Jessica Haag, "Newly Opened Gilpin Gallery Returns to Old Town," The Gazette Packet, March 17, 1994.
Adrian Higgins, The Secret Gardens of Georgetown: Behind the Walls of Washington's Most Historic Neighborhood, Boston, New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1993.
Gary Mullinax, "Sculpture Dominates the December Art Loop," The News Journal, December 4-6, 1992.
Linda Bellafato, "Arts in the Academy," Footnotes, National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council, October 1992.
Richard Walker, "Briefly Noted," Corporate Art News, October 1992, Vol. 9, No. 6.
Susan Brown, "Showplace at Security Storage, " Washington Artists News, Artists Equity Association, Winter 1991.
Richard Walker, "Art Dictates Design for Virginia's Gosnell Properties," Corporate Art News, July 1991, Vol. 8, No. 3.
"Local Sculptor Opens Show," Foggy Bottom News, March 1991.
Susan Brown, Washington Artists News, Artists Equity Association, Winter 1990.
Todd Allan Yasui, "Sculpting the Earth's Essence," The Washington Post, November 11, 1990.
Leonard Hughes, "Chiseling Down to Wire," The Journal, October 12, 1990.
"Drawing on the Arts Scene," The Uptown Citizen, October 11,1990.
Mary Hickey, "Area Law Firms Host Exhibits of Fine Art," The Washington Lawyer, May/June 1990.
Carol Eichner, "Romancing the Stone," Washington Entertainment Magazine, February/March 1989.
Cheryl Romney-Brown, Circling Home, Potomac: Scripta Humanistica, 1989.
John Pantalone, "Art," Newport This Week, August 11, 1988.
Bill Van Siclen, "Soldwedel: Soft Forms From Hard Work," The Providence Journal-Bulletin, July 29, 1988.
"Soldwedel's Sculpture At Signet," The Uptown Citizen, July 14, 1988.
"Polished Work," The Newport Daily News, July 14, 1988.
"Real Estate/Business," The Northwest Current, June 2 - July 15, 1988.
"Washington Weekend," The Washington Times, March 10, 1988.
"Washington Weekend," The Washington Times, February 25, 1988.
The New Bulletin: The Washington Women's Arts Center, February 1988, Vol. 11, No. 2.
"Exhibits," The Washington Post, November 19, 1987.
Gary Tischler, "Gallery News," Galleries, November 6 - 19, 1987.
"Soldwedel Sculptures," The Uptown Citizen, November 12, 1987.
"In the Gatehouse Gallery: A Sculpture Galaxy," The Merriweather Post: Mount Vernon College, November 1987, Vol. 4, No. 2.
"Third Wave," The Uptown Citizen, May 31, 1984.
Carol Eichner, "Romancing the Stone," Washington Entertainment Magazine, February/March 1989.
Joanna Shaw-Eagle, "Diverse Sculptors Attract Eye at Art Barn," The Montgomery Journal, April 28, 1983.
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TELEVISION |
| MHz NETWORKS Channel 12: “ArtsMedia News”, 2005
WETA Channel 26: "Around Town," Bill Dunlap, July 30, 1997
WETA Channel 26: "Around Town," Bill Dunlap, March 17, 1994
WETA Channel 26: "Around Town," Bill Dunlap, April 22, 1993
WETA Channel 26: "Around Town," Bill Dunlap, November 22, 1990
FNN Channel 22: "The Insiders with Jack Anderson," Susan Clark, April 9, 1990
FNN Channel 22: "Washington Business: Investing in Art," 1988 |
What They're Saying About Soldwedel Sculptures ...
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Pamela Soldwedel is a sculptor who works in bronze and stone. Two of her works are in the collection of the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park. They are mid scale pieces of beautiful technical refinement and dramatic aesthetic presence. Soldwedel has a lyric sensibility which is modulated by a firm, classical understanding of form in space. Her forms revolve in and out upon themselves, discovering new twists in both inner and outer space. They could be forms from the ocean or forms from the winds. What is certain is their fundamental organicism. With titles such as “Tempest I” and “Tempest II” they make this organic dimension of clashing and contorted forces clear, yet without losing a secure sense of balance.
In the final analysis Soldwedel’s works inhabit a spiritual domain where powerful vortices converge and progressively “emerge” from their own confrontation. They are beautifully realized abstract sculptures.
- Paul Master-Karnik
Director
DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park
Lincoln, Massachusetts |
"Pamela Soldwedel's Fireflower ... continues to be one of the most admired
pieces in the Museum and an essential part of our mezzanine installation."
- Susan Fisher Sterling, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, National
Museum of Women in the Arts
"The response to your show has been extremely favorable. The visitors as well
as the members have been thrilled with your sculptures. I am so pleased that
the Museum has had the opportunity to exhibit your work..."
- Allison Cywin, Curator/Registrar, Newport Art Museum
"Pamela Soldwedel's art brings to mind another twentieth-century artist; her
graceful and simple forms appear to have been made by the forces of nature in
the manner of Barbara Hepworth's elegant works."
- Kristen Miller Zohn, Curator of Art, Albany Museum of Art
"... seven exquisite sculptures, set like jewels on their pedestals encased
in their plexiglass vitrines."
Diana Cole, Montgomery County Sentinal
"I'm proud to have MANTRA among my cherished artworks - it grabs attention, no apologies,
dressed in its finery. What class!
(Name of collector withheld.)
"All fluid curves and swirling, concentric forms, Soldwedel has reached
into the cold, hard heart of stone and released a hidden sensuality ... How
does Soldwedel woo such wonders from the solid forces of stone and metal?"
-Washington Entertainment Magazine
"The Magnificent Seven ... seven exquisite [Soldwedel] sculptures set like
jewels on their pedestals..."
-The Montgomery County Journal
Describing THIRD WAVE:
"... this 10,000 pound rock was transformed by Ms. Soldwedel into a thrust
of energy in which one can glimpse suggested shapes of the human form."
-The Uptown Citizen
"... splendid small bronzes by Pamela Soldwedel."
-The Georgetowner
"Pamela Soldwedel's marble ANGST ... good art."
- Hank Burchard, The Washington Post
"This woman knows how to romance a stone."
-Todd Allen Yasui, The Washington Post
"At the risk of sounding hokey, one might say that you will find
[Soldwedel's] pieces lovely, perhaps even charming. Yet they have a force
about them that must be present in good stone sculpture."
Newport This Week describing Pam's exhibition at the Newport Art Museum
"ART DICTATES DESIGN FOR GOSNELL PROPERTIES
... We were interested in generating a certain image for the project, an
upscale image that was modern and yet timeless."
Barry Gosnell, Treasurer,Gosnell Properties, Inc., describing the selection of ISHTAR III for the grand atrium of their new McLean, VA office building, International Gateway.
-Corporate Art News
"We have been honored to have WE' as a part of our family for the past three years. A magnificent piece!"
-Inscription on photo by Hon. Richard Mueller, Consul General of the United
States, Hong Kong.
"SEARCH was the centerpiece of our residence - simply beautiful!"
-Inscription on photo by Hon. Bruce Gelb, Ambassador of United States to
Belgium.
"I enclose my check for ... as payment for QUEST. It is just magnificent.
It greets me in the morning as I turn out the night lights, and it warms me
in the evening when I turn them on. [name deleted] and I are absolutely
thrilled with what you have created for us."
-Letter from the collector who commissioned QUEST
"... The curatorial staff tells me that the beautiful piece FIREFLOWER II you have made possible for us to display will be on
exhibition shortly. Thank you for finding NMWA worthy of your interest. I
am delighted that your sculpture will be represented at the museum."
- Letter from Wilhelmina Cole Holliday, President, National Museum of Women
in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
"IN THE GATEHOUSE GALLERY: A SCULPTURE GALAXY
Step into the gallery and you feel that the swirling, undulating and
concentric forms of the sculpture are echoed in the arrangement of the
pieces around the room...enchanting forms..."
-The Merriweather Post
"Your work is absolutely lovely! I was entranced by two pieces in
particular, which are alas already owned. I would love to come and see any
other works you have in progress.
-Letter from Jane Coutant Evans, President, Mount Vernon College, site of
the Gatehouse Gallery.
" ... We love our Fireflower, and we are looking forward to the time when it can be viewed by everyone. It is really a treasure.
-Letter from the CEO of Westminster Investing Corporation which
commissioned the sculpture.
"[name deleted} and I were thrilled to receive notice that ISHTAR has been purchased and presented to the National Academy of Sciences. We don't know of any artist who is so dedicated to her work as you, nor one who brings such sensitivity to everything she creates.
It is a privilege to have two Soldwedels in our garden and one in our living room!
-Letter from a collector of Soldwedel Sculptures
"Just read my House and Garden for Sept ... found your web site, and decided
to
check it out...the sculptures are the most beautiful things that I've ever
seen. It must be wonderful to be so very blessed with talent like yours. It
is
hard for me to come to terms that anyone can create such beauty. Just wanted
you to know that the every day person likes to breathe such beauty also."
"Thank you."
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