Pat Edwards will share his 40 years as an artist through an upcoming exhibition of his colored pencil and embossed Prismacolor works, “An Artistic Journey,” Nov. 4 through 29 in Gallery III of the Artists Collective | Spartanburg.
An artist’s reception will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20, as part of Spartanburg ArtWalk. The reception and exhibition viewing are free and open to the public. Some of the pieces in the show will be offered for purchase with prices ranging from $25 to $150.
“This show will feature an exploration of both the direction of my artistic endeavors with respect to the topics of my works and the artistic and psychological principles underlying the works and technique,” Edwards says, adding that his unique artistic journey began through his childhood hobby of stamp collecting.
“Stamp collecting offered me, as a young boy growing up on the plains of South Dakota, a glimpse into an exotic diverse world,” says Edwards, a member of the Artists Collective | Spartanburg. “While the vast sky, empty prairie and towering thunderheads drew my attention to the nature all around me, wanderlust drew me to join the U.S. Navy and travel the world.”
After experiencing other cultures and peoples, he says, he returned to South Dakota and entered college as a psychology major. He continued with his stamp collecting interests as he finished his studies and took a position as a college professor. He discovered a subsection of stamp collectors who collected what are called first day covers. “These envelopes carried a newly issued stamp along with a special ‘first day of issue’ postmark. Many of these covers are decorated by artists with designs that tie to the topic of the newly issued stamp.”
Edwards says he began creating these miniature pieces of art for sale to stamp collectors. He developed a technique in which he created a design relief that could be placed in the envelope and “rubbed” with colored pencils. “The design would magically appear on the envelope,” he says.
While teaching at a University in Louisiana, Edwards recalls, he lived in a small house that faced a store front Catholic church. “At night the large stained-glass windows were lit from the inside and dazzled me with its intense colors. I decided to use a variation of my rubbing technique to produce an image of the window. It worked so well that I began drawing other windows and eventually branched into other images and topics, including flowers and scenery.” He has labeled his unique technique “embossed Prismacolor.”
