Pamela (Hochschartner) Viola began making photography-based images in a high school art class at the age of fourteen with a plastic Diana camera. A few years later she was exhibiting traditional black and white silver gelatin prints of American Southwest architectural subjects in galleries throughout New York, New England and Colorado, winning multiple show awards and artist grants.
During a 1979 Bennington College internship at the renowned Light Gallery in New York City, Ms. Viola was exposed to the work of photography masters Strand, Adams, Cunningham, Steichen, Winogrand and witnessed the challenges modern photography faced from traditional curators and art historians. At that time, some traditionalists considered photography less than a fine art because of its reliance on a “recording device” and the possibility of unlimited editions. In many ways similar discussions have been revived with the advent of the digital age.
In 1988 she turned her attention from still photography to motion pictures, and spent 15 years working as a freelance Production Coordinator and Production Manager on feature films such as Black Hawk Down, Hannibal, Natural Born Killers, Nell and Six Degrees of Separation.
Ms. Viola's unique perspective on the landscape often layers multiple images and textures together to evoke emotion and mood beyond the limits of the literal photograph. This interpretive style has emerged as an outgrowth of her cinema background as well as her extensive experimentation with various forms of photographic transfer printing.
Ms. Viola specializes in work for residential, hospitality, health care and corporate settings. Her work is regularly featured in galleries in metropolitan Washington, DC and New York and is held by public and private collections worldwide, including Hyatt Hotels, Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Aviation Administration, National Security Agency, Booz Allen Hamilton, CBS Television, Iridium, PNC Bank, American Chemistry Council, Mid Tennessee Medical Center, Tournament Players Club, and numerous private collections.
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