Visionaries

PAMELA IRVING
Pamela Irving has a Bachelor of Education and Master of Arts from the University
of Melbourne. Pamela has been a fulltime exhibiting artist since 1981. She has
exhibited widely throughout Australia as well as in Hong Kong, Russia, Japan, Italy,
France and the USA. Selected collections include, Museums Victoria, Bars Collection
Russia, Art Bank, The City Museum of Ravenna, Italy, Regional Gallery Collections,
Municipal Collections, and University Collections. Pamela originally trained in
ceramics and sculpture. She has been the recipient of several Arts Victoria and
Australia Council Grants and Winner of the Shepparton Australia Day Award for
Ceramics in 1994. Pamela works across media and her pieces adorn many public
spaces in Melbourne and afar.
“I have worked with ceramics and ceramic objects all my professional life. I also
collect ceramics, pottery and fine china. In a sense these collections define me.
They define my tastes, my humour and illustrate my love of ceramic history. My
new works are “self portraits” assembled from some of my collected ceramics and
ceramic cast objects. I represent myself with the head of a dog. Over the years I
have created ceramic dogs and used their “skins” as a metaphor to tell stories. My
body shape is the outlive of Victoria, where I have lived all of my life. Each figure
from this series tells a story about my life. Reverence for craft is a big part of that.”
Pamela Irving, The Romans Never Conquered
Victoria, 2019, ceramic, found objects, cast
objects, 35 x 75mm. Photo: Brenton McGeachie
$5,000