Pamela Preciado, Fine Artist
Specializing in Commissioned Portraiture |
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Pamela Preciado is primarily a portrait and figurative fine artist working in oil, pastel and charcoal. "Portraits, figures, landscapes and still life offer wonderful opportunities to explore the affects of light, revealing form and character. Studying the light, no matter the subject, is an exciting experience, enhancing the emotional qualities of a subject. The work of the early 19th and 20th century artists such as John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, and Winslow Homer have been inspirational influences in my work."
Pamela Preciado has been painting portraits professionally for the past 40 years. Schooled in the tradition of the masters, Pamela's goal is to capture the essence of her subject using a similiar approach, combined with her own intuitive process.
Education:
In her sophmore and junior years of high school, Pamela received two summer scholarships, one to the University of Illinois's Allerton Park in Champaign, IL, and one to the University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS where she received second place in a portrait competition that year. After participating in the Glenview Annual Art Fair in Glenview, IL since the age of 10 years old, and the youngest exhibitor that year, Pamela went on to earn her college tuition for her first year at the University of Kansas by sketching fair-goers with her Quick-Sketch Portraits done in 10 to 12 minutes, that she does now for community and corporate special events. She was also the exclusive portrait artist doing her Quick-Sketch Portraits for the Babies 'R' Us Stores in Naperville, Schaumburg, and Lombard, IL, (three Chicago suburbs). for 6 years. Her Douthart Scholarship Award in her sophmore year at KU allowed her to pursue her studies in fine art and commercial illustration.
Pamela also studied at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the American Academy of Art, Chicago, IL, and the San Francisco Academy of Fine Art, San Francisco, CA, as well as the Palette & Chisel Academy of Fine Art, Chicago, IL where she has been a member for the last 8 years. There she has studied extensively with William A. Schneider, Scott Powers, Diane Rath, and Clayton Beck, III, four local portrait and landscape master painters. She also studied under several noted national and international contemporary masters, John Howard Sanden, Burton Silverman and Daniel Greene.
Exhibitions:
Chicago, IL:
Quarter Oats Corporation, Booth Fisheries of Consolidated Foods Corporation, The Ambassador West Hotel, The Park Ridge Historical Society, Park Ridge, IL, which included a portrait of Winston Churchill, The La Petite Art Gallery, Park Ridge, IL(her own art gallery), DeKalb Ag Research Corporation, DeKalb, IL, which included her paintings of farm landscapes.
San Francisco, CA:
The Joseph Alioto Gallery, California Macy's Department Stores, where her portraits of wild African animal prints were distributed and sold throughout the state, the Wells Fargo Bank Headquarters History Room featuring a group of portraits "The Wild West", portraits featured, Wild Bill Hicock, Black Bart, Mark Twain and Jesse James, and the Mark Hopkins Hotel's Godfrey Gallery.
Online Gallery Representation:
The Chicago Artists Coalition, caconline.org
Who's Who in American Art,
Discovered Artistss at DiscoverArtists.com
Corporate Collections:
Booth Fisheries of Consolidated Foods Corporation, Chicago, IL
DeKalb Ag Research Corporation, DeKalb, IL
The Edward A. Meindl, II Insurance Agency, Inc., LaGrange Park, IL
Wells Fargo Bank Headquarters History Room, San Francisco, CA
The National Womens History Museum, Washington, DC (currently obtaining a building site thru Congressional approval)
The US Congressional Black Caucus, Washington, DC
Memberships:
The Portrait Society of America, Inc., Tallahassee, FL, founding member 8 yrs.
The Palette & Chisel Academy of Fine Art, Chicago, IL, member 8 yrs.
The Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago, IL, member 25 yrs.
The National Womens History Museum, Washington, DC, member 14 yrs.
The National Museum for Women in the Arts, Washington, DC, member 6 yrs.
The Chicago Chapter of the National Womens Caucas for Art, member 1 yr.
The Chicago Chapter of the National Pastel Society, Chicago, IL, member 2 yrs.
Recent Projects:
In 1996 Pamela created three US Congressional portrait montages (a portrait montage is a grouping of many portraits) as fundraisers for those featured, for the elections that year. US Representative. Corrine Brown of Florida was so taken by her portrait in the montage of "The 104th US Congressional Black Caucas" that she flew Pamela to Washington, DC from Chicago for a special unveiling of the art work in the presence of approximately 100 members of Congress. Later, Representative Brown purchsed two dozen posters made from the original artwork for her trip to Africa as gifts for dignitaries there. When the Congressional Republican women discovered Pamela's artwork, they commissioned their portrait mongage as well! The three portrait montages include: The US Congressional Democratic Women, "The Year of the Woman/The Decade of the Woman", the US Congressional Republican Women, "The US Congressional Republican Women Leaders", and "The 104th US Congressional Black Caucus".
Currently, Pamela has been engaged in a national, grant-funded portrait art project called, "Portraits of Great American Women Achievers, Inc.", which will be a traveling exhibition accross the country honoring the contributions to humanity of 50 of the nation's most accomplished women. The collection of portraits will travel for two years to the towns and cities where these women live or work; 16 venues will be selected. When the collection completes its tour around the country, it will be gifted to a Washington, DC, national museum as part of its permanent collection as a legacy for present and future generations. After six years of research, writing and planning, and several local portraits completed, the rest of the portrait work will begin. In approximately three years the traveling exhibition will begin.
"After regaining my eyesight in 1994 thru extensive surgery and laser surgeries due to diabetic retinopathy, I am so grateful to have the gift of sight restored, and the ability to capture likeness in portraiture! The opportunity to draw and paint portraits is a precious joy I shall never take for granted!". Pamela Preciado
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