Pamela Irving (born 1960) is an Australian

visual artist The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...

specialising in

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids suc ...

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain, ...

and

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

sculptures as well as

printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed techniqu ...

and copper etchings. In addition to her extensive art work, Irving has lectured in art and ceramics at

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has ...

, the

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

College of Advanced Education The College of Advanced Education (CAE) was a class of Australian tertiary education institution that existed from 1967 until the early 1990s. They ranked below universities, but above Colleges of Technical and Further Education (TAFE) which offer t ...

, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) and the

Chisholm Institute of Technology Monash University, Caulfield campus is a campus of Monash University located in Caulfield East, which is a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, in the state of Victoria. The campus comprises 13,400 students of which 52.8% are female and 57.1% of st ...

. She also worked as an art critic for the Geelong Advertiser and was a councillor on the Craft Council of Victoria.

Education

Born in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, Irving was formally educated at the Melbourne State College (1979–1982) where she undertook a

Bachelor of Education A Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) is an undergraduate professional degree which prepares students for work as a teacher in schools. In some countries such as Tanzania and Kenya, additional tasks like field work and research are required in order f ...

(Art/Craft) and she completed a Master of Arts degree by research at the Melbourne College of Advanced Education. Supervised by Professor Noel John Flood, (ceramicist and the Head of Ceramics Department), Irving was one of the first two candidates to be approved to undertake the

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

Degree in Visual Arts in what was, at that time, the Melbourne CAE. Irving's thesis for her master's degree examined 'the reasons and meaning behind the presence and mythology imagery in the works of

Arthur Boyd Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd (24 July 1920 – 24 April 1999) was a leading Australian painter of the middle to late 20th century. Boyd's work ranges from impressionist renderings of Australian landscape to starkly expressionist figuration, ...

John Perceval John de Burgh Perceval AO (1 February 1923 – 15 October 2000) was a well-known Australian artist. Perceval was the last surviving member of a group known as the Angry Penguins who redefined Australian art in the 1940s. Other members include ...

and Mirka Mora (those artists being nominated because of the relevance to my own work)'.

Style and influences

Pascoe observes that Irving's work is derived from 'a mixture of personal experience, myth and virulent imagination'. Hammond has described Irving's early ceramic work as 'humorous, figurative and cheerfully contemptuous of pottery traditions. Irving's early art was influenced by artists including

John Brack John Brack (10 May 1920 – 11 February 1999) was an Australian painter, and a member of the Antipodeans group. According to one critic, Brack's early works captured the idiosyncrasies of their time "more powerfully and succinctly than any Aust ...

, Noel Connihan, Mirka Mora,

Sidney Nolan Sir Sidney Robert Nolan (22 April 191728 November 1992) was one of Australia's leading artists of the 20th century. Working in a wide variety of mediums, his oeuvre is among the most diverse and prolific in all of modern art. He is best known ...

Kinneally, Susan, Pamela Irving: Happy as Larry - ceramics, mosaics, printmaking, CD-ROM, Susan Kinneally and Pamela Irving, 2008 and

. In recent years, Irving has been influenced ″by the honest and direct expressiveness of ‘

outsider art Outsider art is art made by self-taught or supposedly naïve artists with typically little or no contact with the conventions of the art worlds. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art illustrate ...

’ (the art of self-taught or 'naive artists') and the craft of 'memoryware'″ Significantly, this interest grew following Irving's visit to Nek Chand's Rock Garden in

Chandigarh, India Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which a ...

Notable work

Irving Bronze Sculpture Larry La Trobe 1992 1996 c

Irving's most famous work is the bronze sculpture of Larry La Trobe, commissioned in 1992 as a part of the

Swanston Street Swanston Street is a major thoroughfare in the centre of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is one of the main streets of the Melbourne central business district and was laid out in 1837 as part of the original Hoddle Grid. The street vertical ...

redevelopment in

,Hedger, Michael. 1995, Public sculpture in Australia / Michael Hedger, Craftsman House, G+B Arts International, Roseville East, N.S.W. p. 102. and stolen by a thief or thieves unknown during 1995. The resulting

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...

attention rallied significant public support for the recovery of the sculpture. Although never recovered, the statue was recast by the foundry owner, Peter Kolliner, with some minor changes by Irving and was replaced in September 1996. The ''Larry'' sculpture is located at the corner of Swanston Street and Collins Street, Melbourne. Another notable commission is a large mosaic mural covering the Luna Palace building inside Melbourne's Luna Park. This large scale public artwork was commissioned for the centenary of Luna Park and took four years to complete.

Professional associations

Active in mosaic art in Australia, Irving served as a councilor on the Craft Council of Victoria during the 1980s and became vice-president of the Mosaic Association of Australia and New Zealand between 2007 - 2017.

Exhibitions

Between 1981 and 2018, Irving took part in 27 solo exhibitions, 16 joint exhibitions and more than 100 group exhibitions.

Collections

Irving's work is held in the following collections:

Museums and galleries

Museum Victoria Museums Victoria is an organisation which operates three major state-owned museums in Melbourne, Victoria: the Melbourne Museum, the Immigration Museum and Scienceworks Museum. It also manages the Royal Exhibition Building and a storage facil ...

Collezione Mosaici Moderni
*

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

including

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

Deakin University Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia. Its main campuses are in Melbourne's Burwood suburb, Geelong Waurn Ponds, ...

Australian Catholic University Australian Catholic University (ACU) is a public university in Australia. It has seven Australian campuses and also maintains a campus in Rome. History Australian Catholic University was opened on 1 January 1991 following the amalgamatio ...

Burnie Burnie is a port city on the north-west coast of Tasmania, Australia. When founded in 1827, it was named Emu Bay, being renamed after William Burnie, a director of the Van Diemen's Land Company, in the early 1840s. , Burnie had an urban popul ...

College of TAFE,

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

Artbank Artbank is an art rental program established in 1980 by the Australian Government. It supports contemporary Australian artists and encourages a wider appreciation of their work by buying artworks which it then rents to public and private sector c ...

Melbourne City Council The City of Melbourne is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the central city area of Melbourne. In 2018, the city has an area of and had a population of 169,961. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. The ci ...

Shepparton Shepparton () ( Yortayorta: ''Kanny-goopna'') is a city located on the floodplain of the Goulburn River in northern Victoria, Australia, approximately north-northeast of Melbourne. As of the 2021 census, the estimated population of Shepparton, ...

Art Gallery *

Bendigo Art Gallery Bendigo Art Gallery is an Australian art gallery located in Bendigo, Victoria. It is one of the oldest and largest regional art galleries. History The gallery was founded in 1887. The gallery's collection was first housed in the former Bendigo ...

Colac Otway Shire The Shire of Colac Otway is a local government area in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia, located in the south-western part of the state. It covers an area of and in June 2018 had a population of 21,503. It includes the towns ...

* Footscray City Art Collection *

Geelong Art Gallery The Geelong Art Gallery, currently known as Geelong Gallery, is a major regional art gallery, gallery in the city of Geelong, Victoria, Geelong in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The gallery has over 6,000 works of art in its collectio ...

City of Glen Eira The City of Glen Eira is a local government area in Victoria, Australia. It is located in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. It has an area of and has an estimated population of 153,858 (51.6% female and 48.4% male). It was formed in 1994 ...

City of Hume The City of Hume is a local government area located within the metropolitan area of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It includes the outer north-western suburbs and a number of rural localities between 13 and 40 kilometres from the Melbourne c ...

Wangaratta Wangaratta ( ) is a city in the northeast of Victoria, Australia, from Melbourne along the Hume Highway. The city had an estimated urban population of 19,318 at June 2018. Wangaratta has recorded a population growth rate of almost 1% annually ...

Exhibitions Gallery *

City of Whitehorse The City of Whitehorse is a local government area in Victoria, Australia in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. It has an area of and in June 2018, Whitehorse had a population of 176,196. Whitehorse was formed in December 1994 by the amalgamat ...

City of Wyndham The City of Wyndham is a local government area in Victoria, Australia in the outer south-western suburbs of Melbourne, within the Melbourne Metropolitan Area, between Melbourne and the regional city of Geelong. It has an area of . The city had a ...

Corporate and private collections

ANZ Bank ANZ may refer to: People * Anz (musician), a British DJ and electronic musician Banks * ANZ (bank), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, the fourth-largest bank in Australia ** ANZ Bank New Zealand, the largest bank in New Zealand ...

*Art Horses Pty Ltd *L’Oreal Australia *

Monash Medical Centre Monash Medical Centre (MMC) is a teaching hospital in Melbourne, Australia. It provides specialist tertiary-level healthcare to the Melbourne's south-east. Monash Medical Centre is part of Monash Health, the largest public health service in Vic ...

, Clayton *Murray Goulburn Co-operative *Northern Hospital *Pacific Shopping Centres *Polypacific *Sushi King *Yooralla Society *Zart Art *Private collections throughout Australia, the US and Hong Kong including that of

Germaine Greer Germaine Greer (; born 29 January 1939) is an Australian writer and public intellectual, regarded as one of the major voices of the radical feminist movement in the latter half of the 20th century. Specializing in English and women's literatu ...

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

School collections

* Abbotsleigh School for Girls, Sydney *

Camberwell Grammar School , motto_translation = By our deeds may we be known , established = , type = Independent, single sex, Anglican primary and secondary day school , denomination = Anglican , slogan ...

, Melbourne *Corio North High School *Grimwade House,

Melbourne Grammar School (Pray and Work) , established = 1849 (on present site since 1858 - the celebrated date of foundation) , type = Independent, co-educational primary, single-sex boys secondary, day and boarding , denominatio ...

Kew High School Kew High School is a co-educational school in suburban Melbourne for students in years 7–12. The school has an enrolment of approximately 1146 students from the suburbs of Kew, Balwyn North, Hawthorn, Ivanhoe, Kew East and Richmond. School g ...

*Lara Lake Primary School *Lilydale West Primary School *

Lowther Hall Anglican Grammar School , motto_translation = Not for Ourselves Alone , established = , type = Independent comprehensive single-sex primary and secondary day school , denomination = Anglican , educational ...

* Mentone Girls Grammar School, Melbourne *

Mentone Grammar School (by work and with honour) , city = Mentone , state = Victoria , zipcode = 3194 , country = Australia , coordinates = , type = Indepen ...

, Melbourne *Merton Hall,

Melbourne Girls Grammar School , motto_translation = Without the Lord, All is in Vain , established = 1893 , type = Independent, single sex, day & boarding, Christian school. , years = ELC–12 , gender ...

* Methodist Ladies' College (MLC), Melbourne *

Scotch College, Melbourne (For God, for Country, and for Learning) , established = , type = Independent, day and boarding , gender = Boys , denomination = Presbyterian , slogan = , ...

* Star of the Sea College,

Gardenvale Gardenvale is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Glen Eira local government area. Gardenvale recorded a population of 1,019 at the 2021 census. Histor ...

* Tintern Girls' Grammar School, Melbourne *

Wesley College, Melbourne , motto_translation = Dare To Be Wise , slogan = A ''True'' Education (2010 – Present) , established = 18 January 1866 , type = Independent, day & boarding , gender ...

(

Elsternwick Elsternwick is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 9 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Glen Eira local government area. Elsternwick recorded a population of 10,887 at the 2021 ...

Campus)

Awards and grants

*1981 Nominated Kamel Kiln Award *1985 Ceramic Prize,

City of Box Hill The City of Box Hill was a local government area about east of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The city covered an area of , and existed from 1927 until 1994. History Box Hill was originally included in the Nunawading R ...

*1985 Ceramic Prize,

City of Footscray The City of Footscray was a local government area about west of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The city covered an area of and existed from 1859 until 1994. Its civic centre, after which it was named, was Footscray. Hi ...

*1987 Ministry for the Arts and Ministry for Education Artist in Schools Project *1988 Australia Council Grant To Develop a Body of Ceramic Work. *1988 Ministry for Arts and Ministry for Education, Artist in Schools Project *1989 Tasmanian Arts Council Grant-Artist in Residency, Tasmania *1991 Pat Corrigan Artist Grant, N.A.V.A. *1994 Winner, Australia Day Ceramic Award Shepparton Arts Centre. *1995 City of Glen Eira Artist Award *1999 Artist and Designers in Schools Grant, resident artist at Kew High School *2005 Artist in School Grant, Ministry for the Arts and Education *2010 Arts Victoria Grant *2012 Keep Australia Beautiful Award, Community Action for mosaics at Patterson Station, Bentleigh *2015 Cancer Council CEO Awards, Volunteer Group of the Year, Tuxedo Junction Committee *2017 Arts Council Grant, Tasmania

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Irving, Pamela 1960 births Living people 20th-century Australian sculptors Australian women sculptors 20th-century Australian women artists Australian ceramicists Artists from Melbourne Mosaic artists Victorian College of the Arts alumni University of Melbourne women Australian women ceramicists Monash University faculty Australian art critics Australian women art critics RMIT University faculty