Pamela Council facts for kids

Pamela Council, born in 1986, is an American artist and teacher. She creates many different kinds of art, like sculptures, fabric art, printed art, and performance art. Her art often explores Black American culture and includes a lot of humor.

Early Life and Learning

Pamela Council was born in 1986 in Southampton, New York. She grew up in a Black family. She went to Stuyvesant High School from 2000 to 2003.

Council then attended Williams College from 2003 to 2007. There, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree. She studied Studio Art and also took many classes in Mathematics. Later, she went to Columbia University from 2012 to 2014. She earned a Master of Fine Arts degree with honors. While at Columbia, she helped teach sculpture and 3D building classes to both graduate and undergraduate students.

Pamela Council's Art Work

Pamela Council mainly creates sculptures, fabric art, printed art, and performance art. Her art has been shown and ordered by many places. These include the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and the Studio Museum in Harlem. Her work has also been seen at the Williams College Museum of Art and the Southampton Historical Museum.

Council's art helps people understand how cultural and individual identities are connected. She does this by making art that gives viewers a "sensory experience." She gets ideas from American culture, physical beauty, and consumerism (buying things). She often mixes her own materials with items made in factories.

Famous Art Pieces

Flo-Jo World Record Nails (2012)

Flo-Jo World Record Nails (2012) is an art piece that uses fake fingernails. It has about 2,000 fake acrylic nails, along with nail polish and shiny rhinestones. These are arranged to look like a 200-meter running track, but much smaller. The art was inspired by the nails Florence Griffith Joyner wore. She was a famous runner who set a world record in the 200-meter race at the 1988 Summer Olympics.

In this artwork, Council explores ideas about feminism, beauty, and consumerism. She looks at the complicated ways Black women connect to physical beauty. She also highlights how they might spend a lot of money on beauty products, even if they earn less money in the United States.

A Fountain for Survivors (2021)

A Fountain for Survivors (2021) is a very tall fountain, about 18 feet high. It is inside a dome and covered with more than 350,000 acrylic fingernails. This artwork was shown in Times Square in New York City in 2021. It was created to honor people who survived the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.