Public Collections

Parrish Art Museum

New-York Historical Society

Rhizome ArtBase

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture 

The Studio Museum in Harlem

Commissions & Public Art 

2021

A Fountain for Survivors, Times Square Arts. Duffy Square, New York, NY

Talking Hands: Watch My Hands Don’t Watch Me, Times Square Arts. Times Square, New York, NY

2015

Tumbleweaves on the Frontier, Harlem Postcards, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY

2013

BLAXIDERMY Venus, Art-in-Buildings, Time Equities. West 10th Window, New York, NY 

Solo Exhibitions

2021

Bury Me Loose, Denny Dimin Gallery, New York, NY

Brother Sing To Me, Art League Houston, Houston, TX

2018

Red Drink: A BLAXIDERMY Juneteenth Offering, Stardust Arts, Houston, TX

2017

Tenderheaded, Rush Arts Gallery, New York, NY

Selected Group Exhibitions & Screenings

2023

Artists Choose Parrish, Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, NY

2022

Another Justice: US Is Them, Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, NY

52 Artists: A Feminist Milestone, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT

2021

Liberatory Adornment, Flaten Art Museum - St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN

Surface is Only a Material Vehicle for Spirit, Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago, IL

Dionne Warwick: Queen of Twitter, Newark Arts Festival, Newark, NJ

Fringe, Denny Dimin Gallery, New York, NY

Marker, Emblem, Symbol, Signal: Artists Reflect on the Flag, New-York Historical Society, New York

Sites of Memory, UTA Artists Space, Los Angeles, CA

2020

T.B.A.: In Lieu of an Ocean (Send Flowers), Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, Portland, OR

2019

Resident Artist Exhibition, Red Bull Arts, Detroit, MI

2018

Mane & Tail, The Luminary, St Louis, MO

2017

March Madness II, Fort Gansevoort, New York, NY

Public Access/Open Networks, BRIC, Brooklyn, NY

2016

Black Women Artists for Black Lives Matter, New Museum for Contemporary Art, New York, NY

March Madness, Fort Gansevoort, New York, NY

2015

Salon Style, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY

Harlem Postcards, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY

2014

i found god in myself, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York, NY

2013

Re: Purpose, MoCADA Museum & Five Myles Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2008

Unchained Legacies Adjacent, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA

Selected Performances

2021

Is Your House in Order? with Lori Anne Douglass, Esq., Times Square Arts, streaming

2018

Peppermint Petty, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha, NE

2016

Is Your House In Order? with Black Art Incubator, Recess Art, New York, NY

2014

Sweet Grace, VOLTA New York, New York, NY

Is Your House In Order?, MoCADA, Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY

2013

Sweet Grace, Wassaic Project Summer Festival, Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY

Selected Awards & Honors

2023

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship 

2022

Williams College Bicentennial Medal, Williamstown, MA

2021

City Artist Corps Grant, NYFA, New York, NY

Creative Catalyst Award, City of Newark, NJ

2020

Harpo Foundation Grant for Visual Artists

Newark Artist Accelerator, City of Newark, NJ

Creative Catalyst Award, City of Newark, NJ

Foundation for Contemporary Arts COVID Grant

Artist Relief Grant

2019

Bronx Museum A-I-M Fellowship, Bronx, NY

Stardust Arts Fellowship, New York, NY

2018

Grant, Idea Fund, Houston, TX

Community Engagement Grant, Rema Hort Mann Foundation, New York, NY

2017

Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors Grant

2014

Toby Devan Lewis Award

Residencies

2022

Back River Road Residency, Harpo Foundation, South Royallton, VT

2020

Toby Devan Lewis Artist Residency at ISCP, Brooklyn, NY

2019

MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH

Mass MoCA Assets for Artists, North Adams, MA

Red Bull Arts, Detroit, MI

Signal Culture, Owego, NY

2018

Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, NE

2017

Galveston Residency, Galveston, TX

Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, New York, NY

Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY

2016

MANA Contemporary BSMI, Jersey City, NJ

2015

Catwalk Art Residency, Catskill, NY

2012

Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY

Selected Lecture, Talks & Workshops

2023

Visiting Artist Lecture/Visiting Critic/”Get Hyped to Make Art” Workshop, SUNY Albany, Albany, NY

“Making Black History Public” Panel, New York Historical Society, New York, NY

Visiting Critic, Columbia University, New York, NY

2022

Artist Talk, Laundromat Project, Brooklyn, NY

Visiting Artist Lecture, Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, NY

Conference lecture: “PLAY! As Praxis in Fountains for Black Joy,” Black Portraiture(s) VII, Rutgers, Newark, NJ

2021

Lecture, Spelman College x ICA Boston Simone Leigh series, Spelman College

Visiting Artist Lecture, St. Francis College

“Femme Figurations in Contemporary Art” Panel, University of Florida

2020

Visiting Artist Lecture, Hunter College MFA Program, New York, NY

2019

Visiting Artist Lecture, Williams College, Williamstown, MA

2018

“Lived Experience: Creatives Speak” Panel, Alliance of Artist Communities, Philadelphia, PA

“Fountains for Black Joy” presentation, Playtest, Library of Congress, Washington, DC

2017

“Open Access/Public Networks” Panel, BRIC, Brooklyn, NY

Visiting Artist Lecture, Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY

2016

“Objecthood” Panel, TransBorderArt, Brooklyn, NY

2014

Is Your House In Order? B.A.R. Edition Workshop, Black Artist Retreat, Chicago, IL

Curatorial

2024

Curator, Ilana Harris-Babou, Liquid Gold, Times Square Arts, Times Square, NY

2021

Curator, Pamela Council’s Carapace Cabaret, Times Square Arts, Duffy Square, New York, NY

2016

Curator, Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow, “Picnic: The Feast of Those Gone By”, School of Visual Arts

MFA Fine Arts, Various Historic Locations, New Orleans, LA

Teaching & Relevant Experience

2022

Adjunct Assistant Professor, Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, NY

2014-16

Artist Assistant, Maren Hassinger

2012-14

Teaching Assistant, Columbia University, New York, NY (Sculpture I & III)

Selected Bibliography

Ashley Tyner, “The artist collective questioning the true meaning of justice,” i-D, August 17, 2022.

Zachary Small, “Does Public Art Have An Afterlife?,” The New York Times, July 11, 2022. A1, C1.

Gregory Allen, “Fountains for the Now (And Then),” Greg.org, July 21, 2022.

Bruce Handy, “Never Tweet, Unless You’re Dionne Warwick,” New Yorker, November 29, 2021. 52.

Michella Oré, “Artist Pamela Council on Why Nails are the Ultimate Bad Bitch Armor,” VOGUE, November 16, 2021.

Alicia Eler,  “Pink and gold become colors of liberation in an art show at St. Olaf College,” Minneapolis Star-Tribune, November 12, 2021

Raquel Laneri, “How Dionne Warwick’s tweets became high art,” NY Post, November 12, 2021

Sandra E. Garcia, “Acrylic Fingernails Get the Fine Art Treatment,” The New York Times, October 26, 2021. A1, D1.

Marisa Mazria Katz, “Times Square’s first fountain is covered in acrylic fingernails,” NPR, October 17, 2021. 

Ksenia M. Soboleva, Pamela Council Looks to Black Vernacular Culture to Expose Social Inequality, Hyperallergic, October 18, 2021.

Aruna D’Souza, From Flo Jo’s nails to splashing in soda pop: a show of BLAXIDERMY, 4Columns, September 17, 2021.

Asia Grace, Times Square’s first fountain features 400,000 acrylic fingernails, New York Post, October 14, 2021.

Hafizah Geter, Black Phenomena: On Afropessimism & Camp, BOMB, Issue 157, September 23, 2021. 18.

Sarah Cascone, Times Square is Getting Its First Fountain—and it’s a Monumental Public Artwork Covered in 400,000 Acrylic Nails, Artnet, August 18, 2021.

Blake Newby, The Rich History Of Black Track & Field Athletes & Their Manicures, The Zoe Report, May 20, 2021.

Clarity Haynes, “I Call It BLAXIDERMY”: Pamela Council on Their Art and Aesthetic, Hyperallergic, December 2, 2020.

Terence Trouillot, Detroit Art Week Review, Artnet, July 30, 2019.

Nia Groce, How Emerging Initiatives Are Highlighting Detroit’s Evolving Arts Scene, Hypebeast, July 25, 2019.

LaParis Hawkins, An Artist Finds Inspiration in Flo Jo, Venus Williams, Others, ESPN, February 13, 2018.

Seph Rodney, A Sports-Inspired Exhibit That’s Not Quite a Slam Dunk, Hyperallergic, April 25, 2017.

Andrea K. Scott, “March Madness” in the Meatpacking District, New Yorker, March 31, 2017.

Wendy Vogel, Critics Pick: March Madness, ARTFORUM, March 2017.

Dayna Evans, What Does It Mean To Be a Woman In Sports?, New York Magazine: The Cut, March 20, 2017.

Tara Sheena, The Tragedies and Triumphs of American Athletes of Color, Hyperallergic, April 21, 2016.

Simone Krug, Salon Style, Brooklyn Rail, June 2015.

Catie Keck, Pamela Council Brings Flo-Jo’s World Record Nails to the Studio Museum, BUSTLE, March 21, 2015.