Biography

Pamela Griffith, nee Gittoes, was born in Australia into an artistic family. She trained as an Art Teacher at Sydney Teacher’s College and East Sydney Technical College and received the Art 1V Prize for first place throughout the course. Later she completed a Bachelor of Art Education at Alexander Mackie College, Sydney. She has taught in secondary schools, technical colleges, colleges of advanced education, universities, privately in her own studio, and in numerous community workshops throughout Australia.

Pamela is an acclaimed artist who has worked on many varied projects. She believes art is to be enjoyed and she accepts the challenge to reach every one. In this spirit she designed the compact disc cover for the jazz group Galapagos Duck, entitled “Lonely George”. The Department of Foreign Affairs supported her exhibition in Hong Kong when she and Don Harper and his jazz group represented Australia in 1995. The etchings produced for this project illustrate a compact disc of his music “Images of Australia” produced by the ABC.

Many people remember the toile fabrics Pamela designed for the Australian Bicentenary and the Beatification of Mary MacKillop. The Pope made particular mention of the beauty of the Mary MacKillop fabric in the Powerhouse Museum collection when he visited Australia.

The current licences from the Roads and Traffic Authority of NSW have watercolour waratahs on them, designed by Pamela, who worked with the team who created this high technology card.

In 2001 Pamela designed a hanging embroidery for the Foundation for Creative Enterprise that was made possible by the award of an Australian Commonwealth Government Federation Grant. The Creative Embroiderers of the Penrith Valley completed the project in 2001. It was unveiled at The Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, Penrith, by the Governor General of Australia, His Excellency the Right Reverend Dr Peter Hollingworth AC OBE.

Hazelhurst Regional Gallery honored Pamela by showing her work across painting, watercolour and printmaking. This 2005 survey show was assembled by External Curator Prof Joanna Mendelssohn, College of Fine Arts, UNSW.

In 2011 the Hazelhurst Regional Gallery presented an exhibition of “Prints from the Griffith Studio 1978 - 2011” curated by Kate Milner. The foreword to this exhibition was provided by Roger Butler AM, Senior Curator, Australian Prints and Drawings, National Gallery of Australia.