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PAULA WHALEY
Paula Whaley began her professional career in the fashion industry. After graduating from New York’s Fashion Industries High School, she continued her education at the Fashion Institute of Technology and the Cadres Couture in Paris France. Early in her career she worked with notable fashion icons like Zelda Wynn Valdes, Lois Alexander, and Carl Graham. She served as coordinator for Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited. Eventually she opening her own boutique, called ”The Pant Shop” on 125th and Lexington Avenue. Paula became a figurative artist in 1987 after the death of her beloved brother, author, and activist James Baldwin. One day a friend, concerned with the depth of her grief, gave her what proved to be life-changing advice: “You are in deep trouble. If you want to live, put your hands in some clay.” Taking this advice to heart, Paula poured her grief and trauma into clay, resulting in work that is gripping and soulful.
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Paula’s work reflects her training as a fashion artist. She creates elegant, elongated dolls draped in layers of billowing gauze, paper, and natural fibers. These ethereal figures, captured in meditation, mirror Paula’s delicate bone structure and expressive eyes. Through their subtle poses and gestures, Paula’s figures elevate the human form and convey a broad array of human experiences joy, sorrow, strength, fortitude, peace, and spiritual resolution. Her work is well respected throughout the country. Her honors include serving as Artist in residence at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Paula Whaley writes, “My work has always been concerned with the act of making art as a source of healing. With figurative expressions as my primary focus, art has also allowed me to connect with others who respond to this theme. So, many aspects of the human experience find their way into my work.
I am captivated by the ephemeral nature of life, the role of gesture and the subtle combination of elements. The underlying spirit within, makes each figure an expression of deep personal reflection.”
