As an artist I am often asked how I got started doing art.  Well I do not remember when I tried to draw my first picture, but I surely remember when I first recognized myself as being driven to create.  I often think that I did not choose art, it chose me and this was the moment I was chosen.

               I was in seventh grade English class which was quite loud and unruly.  Our teacher, Mrs. Woodruff, could not keep order to save her soul, and I was one of the guilty ones who caused the chaos (Sorry, Mrs. Woodruff).  The student who sat in front of me was Howard.  Our principal was Mr. Royer.  Mr. Royer was a very scary kind of guy.  I think he was in the military in his former life, and in his present life, a serial killer or contract killer which supplemented his teacher's salary. I had found a picture of a gorilla, had drawn a picture of it on my assignment, and said, "Howard, look!  It's Mr. Royer!" Howard tried to shush me and I, suddenly and too late, realized that it had become quiet in the classroom and my voice had rung out over the silence.  Yep, Mr. Royer had entered the room behind me.  He boomed out, "Who is it?" With the mental alacrity of a 10-year-old, I croaked out, "Howard".  Howard turned around and stared at me, the class choked back their giggles, and Mr. Royer said, "Hmph" and walked out of the room.  I enjoyed the relief that I had not gotten into any real trouble and jumped back into the chaos that had resumed.  Soon enough though, Mr. Royer came back into the classroom with a stack of typing paper and SLAMMED it down on my desk and demanded, "Here, now DRAW." He was determined to embarrass me, but any embarrassment that I should have felt was overwhelmed by a sense of gratitude!  To me, this was a gift that stoked a fire that only just at that moment I had become aware of.  I was thirsty to fill all the pages with doodles and pictures.  So, with the dim-wittedness of said 10-year-old, I said, "Thank you!" all full of gratitude.  I did not even have the awareness to pretend to be embarrassed.  Again he growled "Hmph" and walked out again, his mission having failed.  I started right away, drawing on the pages.  English could wait.  I had a DRIVE and it would not be denied!  Soon enough though, not wanting to be bested by a seventh-grader,he returned to take back his stack of papers. Bummer. But too late! Little did he know that that day he was present at and facilitated the birth of an artist's life.  It was the dawning of a drive that has never left me, I have had to leave it for periods of time, but when I do, I suffer.  

Recently I learned a new word that has a lot of meaning for me, the word is "MULTIPOTENTIALITE." It refers to a person who has many and varied interests.  Unless supported on  how to manage this, the person may feel as though they are torn in different directions, unable to accomplish any one goal (Jack of All Trades-Master of None). And before you go there, this is not the same as ADD. "Multipods" can focus for long periods of time on a project, it's just that there are so many! I used to think this was a curse, never being able to follow something to the end because every other project was begging for attention. Now I see it as a richness and a sort of rebellion against the specialization that the world seems to be so enamored of these days and I'm learning how to manage it. 

In my life I have had (and still do have) lots of different interests such as collecting insects, specifically moths; Tango and its fascinating history; jumping horses; rodeo (my then husband was a bull rider); flying airplanes; cultural anthropology (my degree); growing orchids; breeding and showing my dogs and cat; photography (college courses again); and a bit of chemistry which ties into the photography (called photomicrography). Recently, with the help of my sister Deb Thomas, I have taken up weaving. 

Even though some of my interests may seem unrelated, for me it is art that is at the juncture of those interests and it is what binds them all together.  If you look at my website you will see that it has many different groups with many different media and subject matter. As I go through life and accumulate experiences and friends my tendencies are to put them on paper, canvas or clay. It is my way of remembering, and thank heavens it is a richly diverse life. I work in oils, pastel, graphite, carbon dust, clay, and gouache, whatever medium the subject begs. The subject matter has a wide range. Gallerists disapprove of this, they want to be able to show a cohesive work by an artist that collectors can rely on to be recognizable, you can see my problem.  With the help of this group, I don't feel so alone and loose rooted. I feel supported, so I will get there eventually, pleasing both gallerists and myself!

If you would like to learn more about Multipotentialites go to ThePuttyverse.com and Emilie Wapnick.

I would like to tell you a story about how I received the present commission that I am working on. It’s a story of fate and how it can take two separate lives and intertwine them, in my case resulting in a lovely friendship with mutual benefits. I don’t much believe in events simply being a coincidence. As one of my favorite TV characters observed: The universe is never that lazy. In retrospect, as my story played out I could feel the hand of fate guiding me to where I needed to be and in some instances it even forced me there.

The story of this commission began 17 years ago when I was working at Olivet College in Michigan. I had a class of football players who were probably not going to return for a second semester. Many of the football playing students go to college hoping to be scouted by the NFL. Some of them drop out after the football season ends and these students were no exception. They were bright, funny and memorable and I was very fond of them. We developed a mutual respect and had a lot of fun during the first semester but sadly, I did not see them after that.

Fast forward 17 years to 2018 when one Saturday evening my friend Sonia and I decided to go to Lansing for dinner and a movie. We ate and then went to the movie theater where we found that the movie we wished to see was sold out. Rats! So, Sonia decided we would go look at cars. I needed a new car as mine had 199,000 miles on it. I hate buying new cars, it’s such a chore and the sales people are usually so aggressive, so I have a tendency to drive a vehicle until I am leaving a trail of parts on the road behind me. We drove around to different car dealers and looked at cars for a while and decided to do one more thing and then go home. I saw the Barnes and Nobles and on an impulse decided we should go there. As we stood in one of the aisles looking at books we had been discussing earlier, a tall man walked by us and went to a specific book on the shelf and pulled it out. When he turned around he smiled at me and said "You’re Ms. Gleave! As it turned out he was one of those football players. I remembered him when he told me his name, and he said he was selling cars now for a large GMC dealer in Lansing. He was a warm and lovely person and I got hugs which pleased me most! On our way home I told Sonia I thought I was supposed to buy a car from him. The universe wanted me to. Otherwise why would he be put in my path again so blatantly? So, I made a mental note to find him again. Meanwhile, in the following days I shopped around for cars, but it always ended up the same, the salesmen were as I remembered them, high pressure, never giving me a moment to think, so stubbornly I would decline each time. This always happens when I go against what fate has worked so hard to set up for me! So, finally I called my football player/car salesman and made arrangements to meet with him.

At our first meeting I understood why I was being led to him. He was very kind, in no hurry, giving me lots of time to think and taking time to explain everything I needed to know. The whole dealership was this way, it was quiet in there, the staff was warm and friendly without being aggressive, they were even this way with each other. I was in car buying heaven! Best of all he brought out the most perfect car and of course, I bought it! As we met several times during the car buying process we spoke of fate and how it had brought us together and he told me why he was in the book store at that precise time. A week prior his wife had asked him to pick up a book for her called Love and Respect . He said he always tries to do favors like that immediately when asked, so it was unlike him to delay this and that day she had reminded him. But, as it turned out it put him in the bookstore at exactly the time he needed to be there to find me!

During one meeting I had given him my business card and he told me he was moving into a new house and had needed art for his walls. He thought one of my large format photomicrographs would look great over his couch. So, I am working on this to get him as perfect a piece of art as he got me in this car.

In the end, whether you think of it as God’s Plan, fate, karma, the universe acting, or just a coincidence, you can’t argue with the outcome! We reconnected in a wonderful way, we both got our commissions and as for me, I will never fight fate as it is a losing prospect every time. If you trust in it, it will lead you to the most delightful and beneficial things. Also, now that I think about it, I guess the universe decided it had to bring in someone from 17 years ago, because I wasn’t being aggressive enough in my art marketing efforts with people of today. I’ll have to look into that...

I am Pam Gleave.  I am first and foremost an artist, then a scientist; an anthropologist and a student of  botany, and entomology.   My degree from Olivet College (in Michigan) is in Sociology/Anthropology and Art with an extra kick of lots of random biology courses.  In anthropology, my main interest is in the art of indigenous people.  How location and available resources influenced their art styles.

 I specialized in scientific illustration in the art department. I work in oil, gouache, bronze, pen & ink, carbon dust, charcoal, and pastel.  I have been known to build things in stained glass, sculptures in laminated wood, and ceramic clay.  I laced my own snowshoes and they hang on the wall as art, unused so far, but maybe next winter! 

In entomology, my main interest is in lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) I did graduate work in entomology at University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the form of one class called Natural History and Identification of Insects.  I did a grant funded research project sampling moths from wetland complexes in Michigan.  I collected and identified over 350 species of moths that year (there are 2,500 species of moth in Michigan). Many of the more interesting ones I made paintings of.  I also rear luna moths at home.   I am a student of botany.  Knowing the names of as many plants and animals as I can makes me feel more at home here on earth; more like I belong. It also informs my art;  I believe in order to have believable drawings, paintings and sculptures, you must know the subject inside and out. I grow orchids at home, unfortunately it takes a laboratory to reproduce orchids or else I would probably be breeding them too! So, I have to rely upon places like Hausermann’s in Chicago for my plants.  Those are particularly fun to paint.  They make very dramatic illustrations.

Now along the way I have made many friends in each of these areas of interest. I think it’s important to surround yourself  with people who have the same interests, especially artists.  People think artists are weird, flaky, odd, outliers. But the artists I know are down to earth, sensible people. I have a well rounded group of them and they help me on my way to wherever it is I’m going.  

One artist/musician friend in particular introduced me to a new friend.  It’s common to meet people with whom you have one thing in common or even two things.  But this person had all of my interests and I was overwhelmed!  She has been on expeditions to the Amazon to, among other things, collect orchids, collect moths and other insects, collect seeds and seed pods, and to study the Yanomami. She did glorious drawings of everything along the way and when she came home she made art out of it.    

I learned some things listening to her: Do what you love and the buyers will appear;  do what you love regardless of what is selling at the moment; and to focus on what you do.    She wasn’t necessarily trying to teach me this, but it’s what I took away from our meeting.  
So, now I am inspired to charge forward and make art.  My art, in my own voice, with my own inspirations.   
Until next time, draw on and make mistakes. Go ahead.