About the artist

My work explores what it means to be resilient—to stay curious, brave, and soft in the face of memory, change, and the invisible forces that shape our lives. I’m drawn to the contrast between the ethereal and the grounded, and I try to express the quiet tension that lives between the two. My paintings are abstract, but they’re deeply emotional. I hope they invite pause, reflection, and a feeling of connection—like they’re speaking to something we’ve all felt but haven’t quite put into words.

I approach art-making as a conversation. Each piece starts with a spark—sometimes a gesture, sometimes a scrap of collage or a printed fragment—and then it grows through layers, edits, and intuition. There’s a lot of back and forth. For years, I worked only in acrylic, but over time I’ve brought in new materials and tools that feel more honest to the layered nature of being human. I follow what feels alive in the moment, trusting that the piece will lead me somewhere I didn’t expect but needed to go.

Painting wasn’t always part of my life. I was a professional dancer until 2001, when a sudden illness left me bedridden. When I was finally able to sit upright again, I reached for a paintbrush—not because I wanted to make art, but because I needed to. It became my new way of moving, of expressing, of surviving. That moment changed everything. Since then, art has helped me navigate who I am and how I connect with others.

A woman with glasses and shoulder-length hair smiling, resting her head on her hand, holding paintbrushes in her lap, wearing a dark shirt and jewelry, against a neutral background.


Pamela has built her art practice on collaboration. As owner and curator of The Tate Gallery since 2010, she has shown not only her own considerable body of work, but she has also promoted the collections of more than twenty-five other artists, some local, some from Toronto, Peterborough, and Belleville, others from as far afield as Europe.

Pamela’s work has found homes across Canada, and in the United States, Mexico, Switzerland, Ireland, and England. Commissions are welcome.

Contact me

Artist C.V.

  • Selected Solo Exhibitions

    2008 Kent Farndale Gallery, Port Perry

    2006 Human Bean, Cobourg

    2005 Human Bean, Cobourg

    2004 Human Bean, Cobourg

    Selected Group Exhibitions

    2004-present Northumberland Hills Studio Tour

    2017 Art Connection, Port Hope with Michiko Nakamura and Peggy Mersereau

    2015 Sozai, Port Hope with Peggy Mersereau, Michiko Nakamura, Elizabeth Vercoe and

    Gundi Viviani-Finch

    2014 Belonging, Port Hope with Heather Cooper and Michiko Nakamura

    2013 Illusions, Port Hope with Michiko Nakamura and Elizabeth Vercoe

    2012 Together for the First Time, Port Hope with Heather Cooper and Michiko Nakamura

    2010-2014 Ganaraska Studio Tour

    2010 Gallery Twenty-One, Belleville with Walter Sawron

    2008 Collection, Port Hope with Christine Brooks and Sue Tate

    2007 Action Central, Port Hope with Barabara Bickell and Wanda Hicks

  • BA (Hon), Queen's University 1976

    Canadian College of Osteopathy 2001-2004

  • 2012 Visual Arts Centre, Bowmanville, best Painting, juried show

    2011. Square Foot Show, Port Hope, Juror's Choice Award

    2009 Visual Arts Centre, Bowmanville, Best Painting, juried show

    2005 Visual Arts Centre, Bowmanville, 3rd place, juried show

  • 2024 Halliburton School of the Arts, drawing the human figure (upcoming)

    2024. Halliburton School of the Arts, basics of acrylic painting (upcoming)

    2009 The Painted Tree, Cobourg - basics in acrylics

    2007 Private art lessons for children (age 8-12), Port Hope

    2092 Quinte Ballet School of Canada, Belleville

    1980-92 School of Toronto Dance Theatre

    1985-89 Ryerson Department of Dance, Toronto

    1984 School of the National Ballet of Canada

    1981-85 Etobicoke School of the Arts, Toronto

    1985-86 Dancemakers, Toronto

    1984 School of Winnipeg Contemporary Dance, Winnipeg