Florida Artists Group

Pamela's Bio:

Pamela Miles is a teaching artist. The importance of nature, color, and texture take center stage in her studio, art rooms, and home.
Pam received an A.A. degree from Colby Sawyer College in New Hampshire, attended Syracuse University as a Clothing and Textiles major, and graduated from USF with a Bachelor’s in Fine Art and a Master’s in Art Education. Workshops at the Atlantic Center for the Arts with Alison Saar, the Gulf Coast Art Museum with Miriam Schapiro and summer classes at Penland School in Fabric Design and Book Art further enhanced her art and teaching.
Highlights in her professional life have been being the Manager of Pyramid Arts, Ltd. (a Fine Arts Publishing Company publishing works by Rauschenberg, Dine, Rosenquist, etc.), Assistant Director of the University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum, Director of a commercial art gallery, founder of Camp Create (a summer art camp for children at the Gulf Coast Art Museum), set designer for “Bye Bye Birdie” at John Hopkins Middle School, art teacher for two private Pinellas County Schools for children with learning differences (The dePaul School for Dyslexia and Morning Star School), and an Artist-in-Residence in Title 1 Public Schools through Pinellas County Cultural Affairs and The Mahaffey Foundation. Additional highlights include having a one-person show entitled “Just Say No to Grass” at the Royal Theatre; being the recipient of an Individual Artist Professional Development Grant; having a painting selected for Public Art at the Epi Center; working with a member artist from Creative Clay in their ARTLINK program to create a meaningful body of art work; acting as the professional artist for the Creative Aging Legacy Journal Pilot Program in one of two locations in the United States; serving as a member and Area IV Chairperson for the Florida Artists Group; exhibiting her paintings with her son’s drawings in a two-person exhibition entitled “Spirits, Spines & Spirals” at The Mahaffey Theatre 2012; having a one-person show at American Stage in the spring of 2013; serving as the Artist-in-Residence to paint murals at the Safe Harbor Homeless Shelter through the City of St. Petersburg; organizing the exhibition SURF, SKATE, SKIM (along with her two sons) for The Beach Art Center, Indian Rocks Beach, summer of 2013; having a two-person exhibition of her paintings with David Bewley at The Mahaffey Theatre in 2014; receiving the Fonchen Lord Award for the Florida Artists Group 65th Annual Exhibition at the Leepa Rattner Museum of Art in 2015 and selling the painting; and, lastly, being represented since 2016 by VIDA (shopvida.com), a design firm in California that is reproducing her paintings on clothing and tote bags.

Artist Statement:

For me, making authentic art is inspired by observations of interpersonal relationships and recollections of sentimental locales and events as well as the fascination with particular items, especially in nature: people, places, and things. Throw in a large dose of early imprinting with church, international travel, and the “3 M’s”—music, museum, and the military, and the “recipe ingredients” for my paintings emerge.

Education:

M.A., Art Education, 1991, Dean’s List, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL
B.F.A., 1976, Dean’s List, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL
Clothing and Textiles Major, 1969-1970, Dean’s List, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
A.A., 1967, Colby Sawyer College, New London, NH, Secretary of Class and Key Girl

Professional Experience:

Administrative:

Director Gallery 600. Largo FL 1984-86

Assistant Director/Manager Contemporary Art Museum. University of South Florida.
Tampa FL 1979-83

Manager Pyramid Arts Ltd. a Fine Arts Publishing Company. Tampa FL (artists included
Jim Dine, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, etc.) 1976-78

Instructor:

The dePaul School for Dyslexia. Clearwater FL 1989-present. Art/Art History
Student winners of Dick Blick Mixed Media National Competition Gold & Silver 
Awards 2017 & Silver Award 2019

Morning Star School (for learning differences). Pinellas Park FL 1996-present. Art/Art History. Student winner of the National Catholic Daughters Art Competition 2017 & two student winners of the Florida Catholic Daughters Competition 2018 & 2019

Artist-in-Residence in Elementary Schools. Clearwater & St. Petersburg 2004-2015
through Pinellas County Cultural Affairs & Mahaffey Theatre Class Acts

Gulf Coast Museum of Art. Largo FL 1983-2008 Children’s Art-after-School, Parent/
Child Programs & Founder of Camp Create Summers 1987-1995

Ruth Eckerd Hall. Clearwater FL Art for Children’s Theatre 1988-1995

University of South Florida. Tampa FL Adjunct Instructor Art for the Child & Crafts for
the Art Educator 1991-1993

St. Petersburg College Adjunct Instructor 1988-1991

Selected Exhibitions:

Contradictions. The Webber Gallery. College of Central Florida. Ocala FL 2020
The Beauty of Small. The Ringling College of Art & Design. Sarasota FL 2019
FLAG 68th Annual Exhibition. The Webber Gallery. College of Central Florida. Ocala FL 2018. Julie Heffernan painter. MFA Yale. Professor of Fine Art Montclair State University. NJ. Judge.
Judge’s Choice Award
Mentors & their Mentees. St. Petersburg College Art Gallery. Clearwater FL 2017
Florida Artists Group 65th Annual Exhibition. Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art. Tarpon
 Springs FL 2015. Frank Faulkner Artist & Designer. Judge.
Fonchen Lord Award
The Juried Art Show 2014. Studio 620. St. Petersburg FL 2014. Erika Greenberg-
Schneider Master Printer & Visting Professor USF. Judge
Solo Exhibition. American Stage. St. Petersburg FL 2013. Christine Renc-Carter Cura-
tor Leepa-Rattner Museum
Spirits Spines & Spirals. The Mahaffey. St. Petersburg FL 2012 Two Person Show
Studioworks ’08.Gulf Coast Museum of Art. Largo FL 2008 Stephanie Mayer-Heydt,
PhD. Curator Faye Gold Gallery. Atlanta GA Juror Best of Show Award
Just Say No to Grass. The Royal Theatre. St. Petersburg FL 2007 One Person Show
The 44th Founders Juried Awards Exhibition.The VonLiebig Art Center. Naples FL
2004. Robert Gelinas Painting Professor (ret) USF Tampa FL. Judge - special
addition to Honorable Mention Award
Studioworks ’97 Florida Gulf Coast Art Center. Belleair FL 1997. Emily Kass Director
of The Tampa Museum of Art Juror Merit Award
Studio works ’95 Florida Gulf Coast Art Center. Belleair FL 1995. Dorothy Cowden Di-
rector Scarfone Gallery University of Tampa Juror Award of Excellence

Selected Collections and Commissions:

Ms. Amy Brenholtz Barnett                      Bank Board Room Commission, Tampa, FL
Ms. Patricia Archibald                               Suncoast Orthopedics Commission, Largo, FL
Ms. Cynthia Rice, Esquire                        ATL Design Consultants Commission, Clearwater, FL
Mr. & Mrs. Steve Busch
Mr. & Mrs. Wendell Woolman
Birch Miles and Dr. Beebe Bahrami       Public Art through the Pinellas County Cultural
Virginia McKenna                                      Affairs - installed at the Epi Center, Clearwater, FL
Anonymous
Miles Parks, NPR

Designer:

VIDA. My paintings printed on clothing etc. 2016-present (shopvida.com)

Member:

The Florida Artists Group 2007 - present
Area IV Chairperson for the The Florida Artists Group 2012 & 2013, 2017
CLUB 21 Painting Group 2009 - prese

Other:

Organized SURF SKATE SKIM Exhibition & Design Competition (with Warren Kenny
and Gordon Bonnett) for the Beach Art Center, Indian Rocks Beach, FL, Summer 2013

Artist-in-Residence, Pinellas Safe Harbor/Homeless Shelter, Clearwater, FL, 2012-2013,
Responsible for painting and painting designs in 330' long hallway, designs for 4 large pods
and selecting and painting inspirational quotes throughout the building through the Arts &
International Relations Department of the City of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, FL

National Center for Creative Aging, completed 2012 Arts & Aging Core Training 2012
& taught pilot course in one of two locales in the U.S. through Ruth Eckerd Hall 2010-2011

Expressive Therapist for Children's Therapy Group and Parent/Child Therapy Group,
Medfield Psychiatric Hospital, Largo, FL, 1988 - 1990