Pamela Council


Pamela Council was born in Southampton, New York and currently resides in Bronxville, where she works to produce sculpture, textiles, print-based media and performance art.

Education

Council completed her secondary education at Stuyvesant High School, which was specialized in math and science, from 2000 to 2003. She then attended Williams College from 2003 to 2007, where she received a Bachelor of Arts. She majored in Studio Art and minored in Mathematics. She attended Columbia University in the City of New York from 2012 to 2014, where she received a Master of Fine Arts, and graduated with Honors. She was a teaching assistant for the majority of her time at Columbia, teaching both graduate and undergraduate classes in sculpture and 3D building.

Work

Council works primarily in sculpture, textiles, print-based media and performance art. Her work has been commissioned and exhibited through the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Studio Museum in Harlem, Williams College Museum of Art, Southampton Historical Museum and Kianga Ellis Projects among others. She completed a residency at MANA BSMT in 2016, and recently participated in the collective, Black Women Artists for Black Lives Matter.

Art

Council’s art reflects the complex relationships of cultural and individual identities by immersing the viewer in a “sensory experience”. She draws on inspiration from Americana, physical beauty, and consumerism, juxtaposing her own materials with mass-produced objects.

Notable Exhibits

Flo-Jo World Record Nails (2012)

Medium: 2000 acrylic fake fingernails, nail polish, rhinestones, metal, wood 60 in x 40 in x 22 in
This piece incorporates replica acrylic fingernails in the shape of a 200m running track, inspired by the nails Florence Griffith Joyner wore during the 1988 Summer Olympics, when she set the 200m world record. Council explores themes of feminism, beauty, and consumerism in this piece, identifying the contradictory ties black women have to physical beauty, spending large sums of money on beauty products while earning.67 cents to every dollar white men earn. Council’s art uses humor, style, and grace to create a dialogue with the viewer. Speaking of histories, oppression, and power, her art communicates through gentleness rather than aggression, and is in her words, always “mad exuberant”.

BLAXIDERMY/Uncle Ho (2012)

Medium: Acrylic false fingernails, French Pink color nail polish, styrofoam, gobs of glue 42 in x 32 in x 13 in
Council explains her BLAXIDERMY work as concerning beauty, industry, and the movement of bodies:
“Blaxidermy is a word I use that combines taxidermy and an idea of blaxploitation. In the series, I used beauty supply products and a lot of sculptural elements that referred to the body. Like blaxploitation, I hope it’s somewhere in the space between comical, outrageous, horrific, and enlightening. And always exuberant.” -Pamela Council