Pam Tapp - Tauranga Print

Multi-disciplined Artist



I work in many mediums, but my favourite are painting and glass. I enjoy freedoms of working in an abstract style this allows me to work with colour, texture and shape without thinking about it too much. While my work is abstract there is also very much a design quality to it as well.

My future plans are to work with fused and slumped glass, develop jewellery and move into fabric design, taking some of my paintings and photography and having them printed onto material to then be made into fashion garments or accessories.

I have exhibited and sold work around New Zealand and to the USA. Selling through The Original Art Sale, Affordable Art Sales and the Taranaki Art Award.  

To see a selection of Pam's work click here

A few questions I asked Pam...

What factors in your life do you believe played a significant part in you becoming an artist? I guess when I sat myself down, in those times as you do and questioned what I wanted out of life, who was I, what was my direction etc.  I stopped kidding myself that I wanted to be lawyer and started to be true to me, and believe in me, rather than being the person I thought others wanted me to be.  I didn't want to do law - being a lawyer served a purpose for me at that time, but it wasn't who I was or who I wanted to be.  It was about me taking stock of my life, asking the hard questions and then believing that I could and wanting it with a passion - I then started on my artistic journey.  Another big factor is that I have a hubby who is very supportive and believes in me as an artist and loves my artwork.

 What is your favourite colour and why?
Purple is a colour that seems to show up around me at the moment.  I know it is a very spiritual colour and I am also discovering my spiritual self/path, and while the journeys parallel they are also one, so I take this to be a good sign that I am on the right track.  Also purple is a beautiful colour and very underated.

 What is your favourite creative tool?
Abstraction and experimentation are my favourite creative tools - it comes from my mind, what I am feeling, whats going on around me, then combining them with texture, shape, colour using different medias and mediums.

 What exhibitions are you most proud of?
Well that would have to be my first ever exhibition in 2002.  I had got to a point where I decided there was no right time to exhibit, so I just did.  I was very spoilt and sold the pieces that I entered.  It was a very emotional wierd time and feeling.  Part of me was wow I have sold work, and another part of me was in total disbelief that anyone would want to buy my work.  But it gave me that external recognition/confidence I needed that people liked my art and believed in it enough to purchase it - and  I have kept going ever since. I am also proud of being Tertiary Runner up with my photo in the Mighty River Power Photographic Competition back in 2003.  I spent hours in the darkroom perfecting this image and creating the feeling I wanted to put across.  So again, it wasn't about the prize money or the fancy dinner it was that external/confidence thing I needed that people liked my photography and again that abstraction was my path.

 What essential lessons have you learned from any mistakes? I know this is a hard one when you need money to live - but for me its about to stop equating my artwork to money.  It is like a game of poker, when your playing for fun, you play a totally different game than if there is money on the table and I also find this with my artwork.  My work as an artist is to produce awesome artwork, in whatever media/medium I choose, the money side comes afterwards, not before, it should never be part of or considered in my creative process.  

 If you were not an artist, what would you be?
I would most likely be a check out operator at one of the local supermarkets or work at the Warehouse, as when I get all disllusional that is what I threaten to do - pack in the art and go and get a job at one of these places.

 Who is your favourite Artist, and why?
Jackson Pollock - because of him I discovered that the art form and process that I was using was indeed very real and I was able to give it all a name - Abstraction (as much as I like to think I am outside the box).  Before going to polytech, I was never a real follower of artists, I just loved to do art, so I am ever grateful to my tutor who looked at my work and said to me "go look at Jackson Pollocks work".  I love that I was doing this art before I discovered him and that I did not see his work and then try to emulate, because this shows to me that I have listened to and explored what I felt and that this is the right path for me as an artist, because it is true and comes from within.

 Website:pamelatapp.vc.net.nz
Facebook: Pamela Tapp