VIVID: The Healing Art of Pamela Nielsen

BY BRIAN G. THORNTON

VIVID. Vivid color, Vivid content. Vivid passion. Vincent Van Gogh famously painted several self-portraits. More artists have become their subjects than we know. The audacity and irony of a writer painting a picture of an artist are perhaps less likely. I will attempt to paint the story of Pamela Nielsen using a few essential elements. Nielsen, a native of Toronto, brought many elements to the easel to begin this process. Her life up until that moment had all the ingredients to pull off a task like that with confidence and just enough edge to describe her powerful and vividly colorful art pieces. What was unknown at the time was I had been admiring a work of hers at the local popular restaurant DW Bistro for years – I just did not connect the dots.

Now living in Salt Lake City, Nielsen is an attractive sixty-something. After a series of life experiences, including a near-death brush with COVID after the pandemic, she has taken on this next level of creativity. She has developed several new concepts, processes, and products for working with luxury residential, hospitality, and corporate clientele. Her works are installed nationwide and as far away as Hong Kong. Her career and art, music, and multimedia collaboration with her son Dustin have catapulted her to the forefront of energetic yet peaceful creations. It all emanates from her creative use of bold, vivid colors and innovative materials.

This picture evolves as a conversation wanting to know more about this woman who is immediately intriguing as a conversationalist … open, warm, and creative. Her family emigrated to Salt Lake City from Canada in 1971, and as a teen, she later met her future husband. “My parents were very supportive of my talents—encouraging me, putting me in lessons. My father had been a professional soccer player in Italy at a very young age, and I think he had a lot of fears that I would go through some of the things he did, and he wanted to protect me.” She wasn’t deterred by caution and has taken a confident approach to being a professional artist in all senses of the word.

“I met my husband Scott Nielsen of 41 years at BYU in September 1976, when I was 16 years old, and he was 18. We had one date during that time.” After an early graduation from high school because of schooling in Canada, she decided to go away for a while to mature a bit. In 1977, Nielsen became Senator Orrin Hatch’s receptionist in Washington, DC, worked for a couple of years, then went back to BYU to complete her education.

Husband Scott currently enjoys his retired status as a former Major League Baseball pitcher, where he played for the NY Yankees and the Chicago White Sox. They have raised four sons, Dustin (Dusty), Tyler, Brock, and Trey. “One interesting note related to being a professional sports player’s wife is we moved 36 times in 9 years! From the minors to the big leagues—we lived in Bellingham, WA; Chattanooga, TN; Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Nashville, TN; Columbus, OH; Albany, NY; New York, NY (with the Yankees); Sarasota, FL; Oahu, HI; Chicago, IL (with the White Sox); and Virginia Beach, VA. It was a crazy ride!”

She attended BYU yet had no formal art training – just the required art classes you take in school. “In college, I took a calligraphy class. Later, I used to make big announcement banners for my son’s elementary school that would hang on the outside wall of the school with brush lettering and a lot of cartoon characters.”

Further, she has interests in interior design, fashion design, singing, writing music, voiceover work, on-camera work, and dancing. “I have a saying, ‘if I don’t flow, I don’t go.’ I love to flow! I’m extremely right-brained and love creating art of any kind.”

As a creative adolescent, Pamela recalls, “I just did my “thing.” I was in my world—always creating from the time I was a child. I made my own Halloween costumes, 3-D paper sculptures, and portraits with pastels around 9 or 10 years old.”

Most people can manage one skill at a time, yet she is multi-talented and has had singing and piano lessons. “I took my first singing lesson when my husband played for the White Sox in Chicago. I even tried acting, appearing on various television commercials, TV series, and a movie, plus voiceovers and print work. My maiden name is Gerzeli—and I feel like the “Z”—zig-zagging everywhere.”

LOVE heartZ Collection by Pamela Nielsen

When speaking with Pamela, you don’t sense all the activity and breadth of her skills and interest. She commented, “I love doing multiple things, then watching them come to a beautiful completion, sometimes all at once. Maybe that’s ADD? That’s just how I roll. I get bored easily, so I like trying new things. I also wrote, produced, and sang ten songs for my CD “I Am Free,” a 2021 release on Spotify and Apple Music, which is a celebration of God’s healing in my life from memories of childhood abuse. And when I turned 50, I took up ballroom dancing. Doing dance competitions in Colorado and Nevada.”

VIVID PROCESSES

When I was introduced to Pamela Nielsen in 2017, we were put together to see if there was a synergy to create something special for my then-client, One Turnberry Place. Their reimagined lobby needed an abstract piece that was not too color specific that evoked movement and energy with a sophisticated palette in metallics. Pamela delivered a big statement of ascending metallic flourishes on a floating 8’ acrylic panel. GOLD was born. That one introduction on the phone has led to our five-year collaboration. I would not have had GOLD without our unique process of “call and response.” I am continually grateful for the collaboration and understanding of our themes.

Nielsen says, “One of my favorite collaborations! You were a dream designer to work with, and you gave me full creative reign after we honed in on the paint colors and substrate. As an artist—there is nothing better than being given the green light to paint what comes from the heart.” Her process, while organic in nature, is very customizable, which is why she is in such demand and able to create these personalized commissioned pieces. “My process with non-designers is very similar: I like to feel the energy of the space and my clients’ energy; view their color schemes, furniture, and design, so I can ‘feel’ what stroke is right for the look and feel of what they are after. We decide together on what substrate feels right to them, and then I give them samples of my paint color swooshes matching their color scheme. I have them go on my website and pick my art images that ‘sing’ to them to know what technique I will use. Then I create samples for review before the final art piece is painted. I have created my own tools to paint strokes anywhere from 6” to 30,” each creating a different texture—some smooth and some more impasto.

“GOLD” 8’ x 4’ piece commissioned by designer Brian G Thornton for the Great Room at One Turnberry Place in Las Vegas, NV. (2018)

VIVID CONCEPTS

Every magician has tricks up their sleeves, and great chefs and home cooks have that secret ingredient that makes their specialty just a bit more special. When asked about what‘s new, now, and next for Pamela Nielsen Art, she opened up about her dreams.

“I feel part of my expertise is as a project artist and my passion—BIG PIECES for BIG SPACES. I am creating a catalog of my images for architects and designers to choose from for their projects. And, of course, my favorite thing is to create specifically for their design. That really gets my juices flowing. I want to sit at the table of a team of architects and designers in the beginning stages of a very modern building featuring my artwork throughout. Originals, large scale prints, SEG graphics, stain glass ceiling, an original in Liquidelements flooring, curved sculptures, digital art, elevator art, and an outdoor mural—etc.”

Also noted, “I am planning on pushing the “LOVE BIG” campaign with my LOVE heartZ collection. I envision them BIG on outdoor building murals, billboards, hotel lobbies, meeting rooms, schools, hospitals, subway billboards, rotating on giant screens in Times Square, etc. We are so much in need of LOVE right now in our world—we are craving it.”

“Oneness” 10’x4′, outdoor metal print by Pamela Nielsen

COLOR CONTENT PASSION

These key elements that help to form a picture are incomplete without understanding what a day in the Studio with Pam is like. “[It] can be very fast!” When not working on a specific project, she will spend weeks creating an art piece in her head, then go into the studio and let it flow from the large palette knives. “Sometimes it flows in an instant, and other times it requires more time. When I’m working on a commissioned piece, I do the same thing. I usually listen to inspirational podcasts or my favorite music—Michael Bublé, Tony Bennett, Earth Wind & Fire, something I can dance to!”

We have a vivid picture of Pamela Nielsen, her amazing skills, and her unique life experiences, which have only enhanced her talents.

Nielsen’s custom interchangeable backsplashes are printed on E- PANELS, an aluminum composite material.

As a wife, mother, artist, singer, and actor, it appears she has taken each move, location, and latitude from a supportive family to continue flowing. The words from her single I Am Free bring the vivid image of her healing into focus:

I step through the clouds
The sun is there to warm me
I push through the crowds
And I can finally breathe
Now my eyes can see
The fog has just been lifted
My heart and mind have shifted
I am free, oh yes, I am free

For further inspection of her broad skills, please visit her collection at:
pamelanielsen.com

Pamela’s catalog of art is available here.

Contact Pamela at:
pamela@pamelanielsen.com
(801) 750-6198