Patricia Griffin Brett
Smithfield, VA - United States
Patricia Griffin Brett - Fine Artist
Member Since: 06/05/2007
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MY PERSONAL ARTIST STATEMENT
I'm a self-taught artist and have taken classes and workshops ranging from drawing, painting, mixed media, photography, clay, lampwork (making glass beads), weaving, and beadwork. I strongly believe that everyone is given the gift of creativity when we're born. We're all just presented with different opportunities (some more advantageous and better than others) and use the 'gifts' we're given in different ways. I see art and design in everything and am very passionate about it. I could not imagine having a life without creativity involved. In the world today, where there is so much tragedy and uncertainty; I think art is especially important, as well as being therapeutic. We can 'lose' ourselves and transcend our sorrows when we create, and truly be in a better and more peaceful world.
BIOGRAPHY: PATRICIA GRIFFIN BRETT
I was born in the country in North Carolina. Before I was a year old, my father joined the newly formed U.S. Air Force and moved my mother and me to Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. After spending time in Florida, our growing family moved to Virginia, lived there until I was seven, and then moved to St. John's, Newfoundland. After a tour there, we moved back to Virginia, where we stayed until moving to Oslo, Norway when I was a teenager. There, we lived in a beautiful mountaintop village called Sandvika, which overlooked a fjord. While in Norway, I learned to ski, ice skate, and speak a little Norwegian and also had the chance to visit Sweden, Finland, and Denmark.
From the time I was a very small child, I have loved creating things with my own hands and began to draw at an early age. I learned to sew and embroider from my mother and grandmother, who also taught me to crochet. While living in Norway, I taught myself to knit and learned the Scandinavian technique of knitting from our next-door neighbor. I once dreamed of becoming a fashion designer and used to spend a lot of time drawing designs for clothing. Nowadays I paint, make my own beads with a torch (lampwork), make beads out of clay; do various types of beadwork, beadweaving, and make jewelry. I also combine fiber and beads, and I love mixed media.
I've sold my work through various shops, restaurants, and galleries for the past 25 years and am a former member of The Bead Society of Southeastern Virginia, the Tidewater Artists Assoc., The Isle of Wight Arts League, the Suffolk Art League, and the VA. Watercolor Society. I served on the board of the Smithfield Cultural Arts Center for several years, where I had a studio and taught summer art camps for youth. I've also taught privately, at bead shops in the area, and at art retreats.
Exhibitions:
Smithfield Cultural Arts Center, Smithfield, VA
The Hermitage, Norfolk, VA
The Smithfield Bakery, Smithfield, VA
Riverview Gallery, Portsmouth, VA
The Pagan River Shoppes, Smithfield, VA
Morales Art Gallery, Nags Head, NC
Arts Kitchen, Suffolk, VA
Seaside Art Gallery, Nags Head, NC
Suffolk Art Museum, Suffolk, VA
Nansemond Suffolk Academy, Suffolk, VA
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