Pamela Alderman
Artist bio “Your art speaks of healing,” said New York artist Makoto Fujimura. A few years ago in his book signing line, I showed him my homemade portfolio. Years earlier, my dad had taught me how to draw by sketching on napkins after dinner. When I reached the fifth grade, my mom enrolled me in art lessons. Soon my first oil painting sold for thirty-five dollars. From then on, my fingernails wore paint. For ArtPrize 2010, I painted the Woman in Red series to help raise awareness for the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women initiative. Currently, eight Children’s Hospitals from Philadelphia to San Diego showcase my artwork. By identifying my calling as healing, Fujimura empowered my creativity. Each stroke within my artwork carries the potential to awaken the heart. And the subtle expression of the brush possesses the power to heal.

Pamela Alderman

Artist bio

“Your art speaks of healing,” said New York artist Makoto Fujimura. A few years ago in his book signing line, I showed him my homemade portfolio.

Years earlier, my dad had taught me how to draw by sketching on napkins after dinner. When I reached the fifth grade, my mom enrolled me in art lessons. Soon my first oil painting sold for thirty-five dollars. From then on, my fingernails wore paint.

For ArtPrize 2010, I painted the Woman in Red series to help raise awareness for the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women initiative. Currently, eight Children’s Hospitals from Philadelphia to San Diego showcase my artwork.

By identifying my calling as healing, Fujimura empowered my creativity. Each stroke within my artwork carries the potential to awaken the heart. And the subtle expression of the brush possesses the power to heal.

About the work
Title: Braving the Wind
Art form: 2-D
Medium: Watercolor
Year created: 2011
Description of work: Kara was only 28 when she was first diagnosed with lymphoma. Cancer had claimed her grandmother at 49. Following treatments, she ran in her first half marathon. She said, “Past runners helped raise money for my treatment. So I wanted to do the same for future cancer patients.” But hip pain prevented her from running in the next race. Then medical tests revealed a recurrence of cancer. The following summer she received a second diagnosis: breast cancer. In honor of The Cancer Center at Metro Health, I have depicted Kara in Braving the Wind. The viewer is also invited to become a part of the story. By writing the name of a loved one—who has battled cancer—on a Hope Card and hanging it on the Healing Tree, we honor their struggle. Resolved to beat her cancer and run again, Kara grasps this famous quote: “The miracle isn’t that I finished; the miracle is that I had the courage to start.

Pamela Alderman

Artist bio

Venue location

Websites

Artist resume