Pamela, born in Johannesburg and living in Jerusalem, Israel is a graduate of the University of Cape Town, and an internationally acclaimed artist. She has exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the world. Her artworks are in the collections of Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Ben Uri, the London Jewish Museum of Art; Museu de Ague da Epal, Lisbon; Tama Art University Museum, Tokyo; National Gallery in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe; The Israel Museum; Tel Aviv Museum of Art; and the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

In her own words, Pamela is ‘an intuitive artist painting my dreams and experiences’.  She ‘is inspired by nature and the colourful Jerusalem garden which surrounds our house and my studio.’ She adds, ‘I love to travel and the countries I have visited have inspired me too.’  Her paintings, ‘always start in nature, but transcend to different worlds, worlds with different levels of consciousness, memories, feelings, hopes, dreams, moments in time that keep returning.’ 

She works in watercolours, etchings and monotypes and oils.

Gideon Ofrat, veteran historian and curator, when he viewed her paintings in a Jerusalem exhibition, exclaimed ‘I’m astounded [by] this burst of colorist joie de vivre and emanation of happiness.’*  

Almost every aspect of her work – from the smallest details such as spots of colour to the larger rhythms of brush strokes, patterns, changing colours and symbols – is marshalled to the same end: the surfacing of joy, memories, dreams and moments of time.  We can also delight in her wide-ranging  stylistic inflections as in the aquatints  and in her flower paintings.

Flowers for Pamela, ‘have always been part of my creativity from a very early age … they gave me my sense of colour.’                

The kaleidoscope of  flower paintings – garden flowers, bright meadow flowers, bouquets - are tied together by sensuous colour, shapes, textures and light.  Colour and light create and enhance the joyous ambience of the exhibition.  Pamela Silver has the rare ability to ‘express such an abundance of happiness.’

Sue Buchanan

Acknowledgement:  I would like to thank Pamela Silver for so generously sharing ‘The Colour of Light’ with me.

*From the monograph “In the Shade of the Jacaranda”

Excerpts from the introduction to her catalogue at the Irma Stern Museum Cape Town 2018