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Ginkgo Tree Fine Art Center and Pamela Lenck Bradford

Meet Pamela

Pamela Lenck Bradford earned her MFA at the University of Missouri in 1984 and her BFA under the direction of Sidney Larson, the apprentice of Thomas Hart Benton, at Columbia College in 1980. She moved to Norman, Oklahoma in 1994 with her husband who teaches history at the University of Oklahoma. She has illustrated five of his books including the cover art. They have two daughters who have drawn upon their artistic abilities in their careers as a surgeon and a businesswoman.  

 

Pamela is regarded for her original method of using color pencil over watercolor to achieve a painterly effect, as featured in the August 1985 issue of American Artist. She calls it “pencil painting” at the suggestion of one of her professors. Pamela’s art has been on the covers of several national magazines, including American Artist, and she has sold her work throughout the United States and Europe.  

 

Art begins with drawing. As such, Pamela’s first love is drawing, and she specializes in both her pencil painting and graphite pencil work. She also works in and teaches various media including watercolor, oil and acrylic, and mosaic to create landscape, portraiture, and still life works. In Oklahoma, she has taught at the University of Oklahoma and the Firehouse Art Center and has supported art programs in public schools and the community as an artist in residence. One grade school student described such a project at his school as a “rite of passage”.

"Depend on it, the first universal characteristic of all great art is Tenderness, as the second is Truth."

John Ruskin

Ginkgo Tree Fine Art Center, August 2023
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The Ginkgo Tree Fine Art Center

One day in 1998, Pamela and her husband saw that a neighboring property was for sale, and they had a contract by the evening. They naively expected that with a few simple repairs, the farmhouse could be converted into an art studio. However, the building’s true condition was revealed when a team of close friends and carpenters tore up the flooring. Years of water damage necessitated a rebuild, and a plumber, tiler, and electrician joined the studio crew. They worked so smoothly on the renovations that they described the experience as spiritual.

 

The result was a beautiful stucco building that became a canvas for multiple mosaic projects. A professional tiler and friend helped Pamela teach two busloads of grade schoolers about mosaic work. The students then transformed the stucco archway entrance into a mosaic masterpiece we called, “The Four Seasons”. Pamela led another group of students to adorn the studio’s western exterior with a garden-themed mosaic mural. Perhaps the crowning achievement was, of all places, the studio’s bathroom. This mosaic mural also celebrated nature with depictions of underwater life, birds, and St. Francis.

 

Pamela was inspired to name her art studio after a tree that to her symbolizes beauty, hope, and resilience. The Ginkgo Tree Fine Art Center became a cornerstone for a small community of artists and a gathering place for family. For nineteen years, it inspired countless visitors and served as a creative catalyst for art students. Many special memories were made here: art shows, art classes, holiday meals, potlucks, and weddings.

 

In November of 2017, a fire destroyed the original Ginkgo Tree Fine Art Center. After six years of reflection and hard work, the construction of a new studio was completed in the spring of 2023. We are grateful for the those that helped make this happen. Among the many people who showed us kindness and encouragement, we want to thank the Benedictine monks of Saint Gregory’s Abbey in Shawnee, Oklahoma for their generous donations of art equipment and furnishings. It has been an honor and an adventurous journey so far, and we look forward to a new chapter.

Ginkgo Tree Fine Art Center and Pamela Lenck Bradford

"Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts - the book of their deeds, the book of their words, and the book of their art." John Ruskin

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