About Pamela Soldwedel | Abstract & Contemporary Sculpture in Metal and Stone by 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

Endings and beginnings, cycles of grief and joy – human instincts and emotions too basic or complex to articulate in a figurative manner – appear to me as abstract shapes. Smooth, swirling, undulating forms, most with harsh-faced or carefully textured accents can suggest more meaning and contain more enigma than the specifically representational. Through the use of organic shapes in stone, metal and mixed media recalling humans or animals without specifically simulating either, I seek to incorporate the passion, mystery and ambiguity that is central to human experience.

My first love was stone, all stones. Then I became fascinated as well by metal casting processes, followed by involvement with mixed media. I use a combination of every durable matter available, such as marble/aluminum; wood/stone/bronze/plastics, sometimes accentuated with weeping bronze tears, or rhinestones, to aid me in interpreting my stories and making my statements. Above all, I enjoy the challenge of using seemingly immutable materials to stir a viewer’s mind; and the fact that these extremely hard substances provide reassuring permanence.

In many of my sculptures, I have sought overall continuity of line. However, others display breaks, representing disrupted life cycles. Sections have been split or sliced open symbolizing trauma the pain of separation from a loved one; an emotional crisis; an illness or physical disability wrenching enough to cause breakdown of spirit or body. Nevertheless, these potentially distressing sculptures often are filled with messages of 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.

Pamela Soldwedel, a native New Yorker, studied sculpture and drama as an undergraduate at Bennington College. A varied career followed, which included experience as a fabric designer, fashion show producer, radio disc jockey, radio and television commentator and producer, magazine publisher, and promotion consultant for a major fragrance house. Only after moving to Washington, D.C. in the mid 1970's did Soldwedel resume her sculpture, attending the Corcoran College of Art and Design, where she studied under Berthold Schmutzhart and received The Martha von Hirsh Award and The Mary Lay Thom Sculpture Award for most outstanding work.

The dramatic element begun at Bennington is an integral part of Soldwedel’s persona and is reflected in her sculptures. Using flowing lines of stone and metal to translate the depth of human emotions of joy, grief, loss and rebirth, Soldwedel seeks to incorporate the passion, mystery and ambiguity that is central to the human experience in her abstract sculptures. To heighten the sense of drama, she often employs combinations of aluminum and marble; wood/stone/bronze/plastics; and lately has begun adding sparkle to some of her works by the use of rhinestones, secured forever with 2-ton epoxy.

Soldwedel’s sculptures have appeared in solo and group exhibitions throughout the Washington, DC area and the United States. She has received numerous art awards, including the R.C.G. Merit Award of Excellence in 1993 and the Artists Equity Association's "Best In Show" Merry Slocum Bean Award in 1995. Soldwedel was awarded a generous grant from the E.D. Foundation of New York in 2005 and earned a prize for her entry in the Art League of Washington’s 2007 sculpture show at Washington Square. Her sculptures are held in private collections worldwide, many through special commission, and her work has been acquired by national and international corporations and institutions.

Ms. Soldwedel holds memberships in numerous art organizations, including The Art League of Washington, the Metropolitan Center for the Visual Arts, the Washington Sculptors Group, The Washington Project for the Arts, the Arlington Arts Center, New York Artists Equity Association, National Association of Women Artists, and the National Sculpture Society (associate member).

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

SELECTED PUBLIC AND CORPORATE COLLECTIONS

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TELEVISION

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