Undertow, Part 1


Project Space
Undertow, Part 1
Pamela Dodds
October 24, 2014 – November 22, 2014

Pamela Dodds’ work explores the complexity of human relationships through a feminist lens. Working primarily, though not exclusively in figurative imagery, she seeks to reflect, mirror, question and challenge norms and assumptions around gender, memory, history, and our relationship with Nature. She is inspired by the interface of personal/political where a personal or intimate act has political significance and consequences. The form and format of the work is inspired also by her continually evolving relationship with the relief print medium (linocut and woodcut) itself. In Undertow—a suite of colour woodcut prints in large, vertical scroll-like format—the imprint of natural wood grain evokes a vast and alluring sea in which printed, carved figures and other organic forms are suspended. The suite describes a series of moments of engagement, representing lost and found communication, the distortions of voice, and the question and meaning of “rescue.”

Pamela Dodds was born in Halifax, NS, and grew up in Toronto. As a teen, she moved to the USA, where she remained for many years. She received a BA in Fine Arts from Brandeis University, Massachusetts. In 2007 she returned to Toronto and was awarded a Nick Novak Fellowship at Open Studio and an Individual Support grant from the Gottlieb Foundation (NY). Dodds’s work has been exhibited internationally and she has participated in numerous residencies, most recently in England, Spain and Québec. Her work has been purchased for public collections such as Boston Public Library, Massachusetts, Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, and Carleton University, ON, and reviewed in Art New England, The Boston Globe and The Globe and Mail. Recent exhibitions include Jumelage, Toronto and Québec (2012-13), Language for a New Paradigm, Lennox Contemporary, Toronto, (2013) and Global Matrix III, a travelling survey of contemporary printmaking in the USA (2012-13). Pamela Dodds was the recipient of the  2013-14 Hexagon Special Projects Fellowship, awarded annually to a mid-career or established Open Studio member. Dodds would like to acknowledge the assistance of Hexagon Special Projects and the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund in the creation of this work.