New Horizons: Farewell to Pam

This month, we say goodbye to long-time North Shore artist and dear friend Pamela Robe, who is leaving the studio in pursuit of new horizons. Pam joined The Arts of Life North Shore way back in May of 2011. The studio had been open for less than a year and a half. We were still finding our footing in many ways…  Learning how to be in community with each other, figuring out what we wanted our studio to feel like and finding our creative voices.  Five and a half years later, many things have changed, but one constant has been Pam. Through her constancy, she has helped shape the North Shore studio in countless ways.  Pam was an early member of the North Shore Music Ensemble and participated in the creation of “Get the Dinosaurs on the Phone,” the group’s rock-opera music video. The Ensemble became Van Go Go and Pam sang back up at gigs around the Chicagoland area.  She can be heard on the band’s self-titled debut album and was especially fond of the song “Monster Man.”  The Arts of Life is run collectively by all members of the studio community. Our monthly Studio Meetings are the primary way we live out collective decision making principles. Pam attended almost every Studio Meeting since 2011. This year, she was elected Secretary and took on the responsibility of roll call and taking minutes.  Pam’s creative practice can be best summarized by the process statement from Pam’s online portfolio. “Pam has a way of RE-presenting images to the viewer after visually and emotionally processing them for us. Her preference for oil pastels creates a matte final product that’s starkly different from the glossy photographs she likes to reference. Pam simplifies her subjects, sometimes to the point of abstraction. She does not seem to consider emotional content of the original image, preferring rather to imbue her renderings with the feeling created by mark making. Images are desensitized and then re-sensitized based on physical manipulation of materials, which is at times both jarring and lovely.”  By it’s nature, a community is deeply impacted by the people who enter and leave it. The North Shore studio could never have become what it is today without Pam and will never be the same now that she’s moved on.  We’re eternally grateful to her for the indelible marks she’s left on each of us and the ways we’ve grown through her influence. Thank you, Pam. We wish you all the best! Check out the gallery below for photos from Pam’s five and a half years at The Arts of Life North Shore studio:1) Still from “Get the Dinosaurs on the Phone”2) Closeup still from “Get the Dinosaurs on the Phone”3) Goofing around on the set of “Get the Dinosaurs on the Phone”4) Van Go Go at SPACE in Evanston 5) Pam at SPACE in Evanston6) Pam in the recording studio 7) Pam and Danny at Halloween8) Pam and friends at “Cuz’ I’m Fancy” opening reception 9) Pam onstage at the 2013 Awards Show10) Pam presents at the 2016 Square Foot Show11) Pam’s work on display in the North Shore studio gallery