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Pamela Crawford (Artist)
Pamela Mary Crawford (née Seeman)  was born in 1921. She was an Australian artist and stage designer who married the English-born Australian dramatist, Jim Crawford. Pamela was involved in two types of artistic exploration being the literary Journal Barjai and the Miya Studio from between 1945 and 1949. In 1988, she donated a whole series of artworks that were from the Miya Studio to the University of Queensland.

Early Life
Pamela Seeman was born in Brisbane in 1921. In 1942, Crawford entered the Central Technical College in George Street, Brisbane as a full-time student. She had previously been unable to do so due to a family illness. Once she completed the introductory course, she began studying fashion as theatrical design was not offered. Crawford later transferred into Industrial Drawing under John Appleyard. Crawford was still attending some classes in 1945; however, she left college before she was awarded her diploma.

Career
Crawford became the secretary-treasurer for the Miya Studio in March, 1946. The Miya Studio was created as the government did not have enough funding to support Art schools and budding artists needed a studio to express their passion. Miya Studio was formed in 1945, in order to break away from the Royal Qld Art Society’s Younger Artist’s Group (YAG). The Miya studio was different from other artist groups as the artists painted for a radical intention, rather than for a record of achievement. Crawford was a member of the Miya Studio alongside fellow artists, such as, Laurence Collinson, Laurence Hope and Cecel Knopke. The Miya Studio lasted between 1945 and 1949. The Miya studio members also organised art exhibitions, as well as other events, such as, public lectures. The first exhibition was in 1946, held at the Banquet Hall of Hotel Canberra. The artworks from the exhibition included Crawford’s paintings Ivory Tower and Shadow Partners. The Miya artists’ style was loosely based on expressionism. This style was highly advanced in the Brisbane art scene during this period. An art critic who had visited the exhibition stated that Crawford was one of the most promising artists out of the show.

Crawford attended art classes of Caroline Barker, on the corner of George and Queen Street located in Brisbane. She additionally attended the classes of Miss Birkbeck whose studio was also located in Brisbane. However, these teachers were not progressive artists of the 1950s. Furthermore, Crawford attended lectures held by Dr. Gertrude Langer, an art historian who became a central figure for Miyal Studio artists. Crawford stated that she was educated on many topics during these lectures, such as, on the Impressionists and the Fauves.

Crawford was also involved with Barjai, a magazine of art and poetry that lasted from 1943 to 1947. For instance, some of Crawford’s photographs appeared in edition twenty of the Barjai. Most of the Miya Studio artists were associated with the Barjai magazine. The Miya Studio began to merge with a radical society called the New Theatre Club, as Crawford was spending a lot of time with the latter society. This amalgamation was named the Artists group of the New Theatre, which formally constituted in June, 1949. The Miya Studio group had officially ended in 1950. Crawford was elected the first chairman of the new art society. Crawford began stage designing and in 1952, she illustrated costume sketches for Jim Crawford’s play the Bushland Picnic.

Personal Life
Pamela (née Seeman) married the playwright and Communist Party member, James (Jim) Crawford on the 22nd December 1949. Crawford was influenced by Jim’s political philosophy and may have been a part of the Communist Party. Pamela’s marriage to Jim Crawford inspired her to unite her artistic and theatrical passions. The couple settled on Mount Tambourine after buying several acres of land.

Later Years and Death
Crawford became a member of the Queensland Women’s Historical Association in 1977. The association was founded in 1950. This association was about preserving historical sites around Queensland, Northern new South Wales, France and Great Britain. For instance, one of the historical sites that the association was interested in saving was the Meigunyah house museum which was built in Brisbane in 1886. In 1988, Crawford generously donated a series of artworks (including around fifty of her own works) from the Miya Studio to the University of Queensland. These series of artworks allowed the University of Queensland to hold an exhibition dedicated to the young Brisbane artists who lived during the 1940s. This exhibition hosted by the University of Queensland was the first exhibition to explore this cultural part of history. Pamela Crawford died in 1997.

External References

 * | PDF link to list of what is included in Jim Crawford Collection in Fryer Library, UQ St Lucia.