ARTIST STATEMENT
What drives me into the studio is the exploration of modern distortions and playing on them from a burlesque perspective. My work is frequently cartoon-inspired, given that my generation was the first to learn about their culture by watching cartoons and synthesizing those stories and their archetypes.
As an animator, I experienced the lack of women recorded in the history of animation, art, and science (to name a few). The loss of history for people of color, people across the gender spectrum, or the range of economic status has falsified the record. Our culture is constructed on hierarchy and competition, domination and greed. Is there still a longing for connection and mutual cooperation that may ultimately prove to be more survivable? Luckily, new voices challenge the status quo.
I love to poke the bear--the so-called arbiters of what is of value in our society at a time when more diverse perspective are finding voice. Whether it’s personal or political, my interest is in visual encounter to challenge our relationships with one another and what we value.
EDUCATION
MFA in Film Animation. California Institute of Arts, Valencia, CA, 1977.
BFA in Film Animation. Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis, MN, 1975. (Includes one year at California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA.)
•• Additional ceramic education from Northern Clay Center and the University of Minnesota
E X H I B I T I O N S
FILM
1976 Documentary LAZY BILL LUCAS accepted into the Library of Congress and 2015 into the Minnesota Historical Society
1980 Sinking Creek Film Festival for RITUAL
1980 Cine Golden Eagle for RITUAL
1981 Mallorca International Film Festival RITUAL
••• Currently playing award-winning experimental film (RITUAL, 1979) in the Mediatheque at the Walker Art Center
2D WORK | Digital, Painting, and Photographic
1994 Kathryn Nash Gallery, group show TRANSFORMATIONS
1995 Minnetonka Center for the Arts Juried Show, 1st place mixed media
1996 Espresso Royale, Vision Quest Exhibit
1996 Minnetonka Arts Center Juried Show,
1996 Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibit
1996 AIGA Illustrator’s show, Dayton’s 12th floor gallery
1996 Lutheran Brotherhood Gallery, Breast Cancer Awareness exhibit
1997 pArts Photographic Gallery, Secrets: Concealed from View, WPVA group show
1997 pArts Photographic Gallery, Vision Quest group show
1997 Qu’y a-t-il d’humain dans l’homme, Strasbourg, France. Collaboration with Dorit Cypis and Norit Masson-Sekine
1997 Minnetonka Center for the Arts juried show Juror’s selection photography
1997 Washington Gallery, Duluth,MN Nationally juried show “Up Against a Wall”
1997 Minnetonka Center for the Arts faculty show
1999 Zanders Gallery, solo show
2000-2005 Art A Whirl, Northrup King Building, Minneapolis
2007 Rosalux Gallery, Pamela Belding (painting and some ceramic sculpture)
2009 Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition, First place, painting
2009 Rosalux Gallery, Pamela Belding (painting and ceramics)
CERAMICS
2019 Northern Clay Center, Members Show, Minneapolis, MN
2022 Solo Exhibit, The Guild, Minneapolis, MN
2022 Artistry Members show, Bloomington, MN
2022 Regis Center at the University of Minnesota, Fall group show
2022 Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition, sculpture Honorable mention, sculpture
2023 Art A Whirl, Grain Belt Bottling House
2023 Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition, sculpture First place, sculpture, plus Hopkins Center for the Arts award
2024 American Museum of Ceramic Arts, Fahrenheit 2024
2024 Northern Clay Center, Members Show, Minneapolis, MN
2024 Art A Whirl, Grain Belt Bottling House
2025 Arts North International, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hopkins, MN Award of Excellence
Grain Belt Bottling House
79 Thirteenth Avenue NE, Studio 209
Minneapolis, MN 55413
pam(at)pamelabelding(dot)com
Instagram: beldingpamela
Wooden carousel figures, Oaxaca, Mexico
Belding with First Place in Sculpture at the 2023 Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts exhibition, curated by artist Katayoun Amjadi.