Pamela Griffith: Etchings 1965–2014
by Lou Klepac
Published 2026 RRP $80 Hardcover 204 pages 290 x 280 mm Distributed by Peribo
Reviews
Gary Sangster
“The range of images, the extent of the imaginative depictions and forms in these prints, their linearity, their soft colour schemes, and their cohesive arrangements of natural life, are both enticing and comforting at once. …”
Andrew Totman
“It’s almost impossible to speak about printmaking or a printmaker without history and process being part of the story, but this book does not preach down to the student, nor does it remain simplified for the trained professional. Griffith explores a wide range of what might easily be described as the world around us all, plants, animals, sea-life, bird-life, wildlife, the organic forms of the natural world, a kind of distinct choice in the taxonomies of the natural world by Griffith, driven by the appearance of things, rather than a desire for encyclopaedic representation of nature.…”
Pamela Griffith b.1943 belongs to an artistic family; her grandmother was a painter, her mother was a potter, and her brother is an artist. She is a painter, a printmaker, a teacher and an author of two books.
With a scholarship for studying art education, she attended the East Sydney Technical College. There she became interested in etching, but as this was no longer taught at the art school, she taught herself to etch from a book and then adapted a washing mangle to print her first etchings. Eventually she had a press made in Australia which was later further developed with the help of her engineer husband Ross.
In 1976 she set up the Griffith Studio and Graphic Workshop with facilities and technical expertise to promote etching, making the studio available to artists who were interested in printmaking. Many now well-known artists came to work in her studio which became a hub for the new wave of printmaking in the 1960s and 70s.
Griffith has been fascinated by the natural world and established an intimate knowledge of the Australian fauna, flora and landscape by travelling across Australia in a caravan or camping in a tent. These experiences became an important component of her subject matter.
Though she has always been active as a painter, etching was a passion and for five decades Griffith produced over 400 editions. She has had more than 150 solo exhibitions, and her work is represented in public, corporate and private collections in Australia and overseas. Her important portrait commissions include subjects such as Sir William Deane, Dame Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge. Other commissions include commemorative toiles; two for the Bicentenary celebration and a similar one dedicated for the beatification of Mary Mackillop. Pamela Griffith FRSN BArtEd, has played an important role in art education in NSW; in 2022 she was awarded an OAM for services to art.