Routes of Sorrow, an Exhibition

Oxford artist Pam Foley has been an art tutor to both adults and children, and has produced, exhibited and taught sculpture in the area for nearly 30 years. In addition Pam has also carved out the time for work on special projects, some created by others, or those of her own design. The most enduring and perhaps challenging being her Routes of Sorrow project.

This project began to take shape following the death of her mother in 2004. She decided to use various media to explore her childhood in more depth, having grown up with older twin, non-verbal autistic brothers who were institutionalised from the age of seven until they were 18 years old. The project explores the complex and difficult subjects of chronic sorrow (grief without finality) and inherited sorrow (also known as intergenerational loss).

Pam has used many different approaches to explore these subjects and has worked for over ten years on the five different phases of Routes of Sorrow. She has worked and collaborated with different partners including academics, art therapists, occupational therapists, clergy, musicians, dancers and more, to help bring this project to fruition. She has used a multifaceted approach as a way into the exploration of sorrow and loss. For example, sound pieces, and a dance performance (filmed) serve to enhance the experience when contemplating the wall hangings and sculptures that she has made over the years for this project.

Although the title – Routes of Sorrow – may appear to dwell on misfortune and losses of many kinds, including the loss of someone close, and although loss is the inherent focus of this work, its complement, hopefulness, is the subject of the work on display in Room 2.

About Pam

I received a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice in 1981, and worked briefly in this area before changing careers in my late 20’s. In the last year of my degree in Boston USA, I discovered a clay studio, and began making pots on the wheel. A couple of academic exchange years in the UK, first in Nottingham, and then in Bristol, allowed me to further my knowledge and experience of

pottery and ceramics. After graduation, I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, attending several art colleges and obtaining associate degrees in ceramics and humanities, and thereafter I began my journey as a visual artist. In 1999 I relocated to the UK, where I established and maintained a sculpture studio and practice, making and exhibiting my sculpture throughout the UK. That is, until October 2023 when an accidental fire burned down two buildings, containing nine businesses, including mine.

Involvement in local community art activities included work as the coordinator for Kids @ Art, the charitable arm of Artweeks, which placed visual artists into Oxfordshire schools for residencies, and the setting up of Arts4All for residencies in care homes (both organisations now defunct). I have also been a member of several artist groups, including being on the Steering Committee of the Oxford Art Society. I also work for the Artists Union England, where, together with other artists, we work toward better working and living conditions for artists in the UK cultural sector. Recently, I retired from teaching sculpture and ceramics at a local art school. I now expect to have more time to devise other projects of interest