By Karl Kastenbaum

A slightly skewed Sutherland in her studio in the Hershey Center. Photo credit: India Mansfield.

Upper School art teacher Pam Sutherland is the art teacher everyone wishes they had. Her iconic style and personality make every class and interaction with her interesting. Her classroom is a safe space for students to express themselves. When asked how she would describe her teaching, she said “I aim to be engaging, knowledgeable, but by no means an expert and collaborative with students. I want my classes to be a safe space where students can be their true selves.”

Sutherland was born in 1966 in Richmond. She went to Philadelphia for a year in 4th grade and then moved to Charlottesville. Her parents divorced when she was 13 and both remarried within a week of each other when she was 16. She became very close with her father as her mother struggled with depression and alcoholism. She was very close with her sister and step-sister as well. She attended Albemarle High School in Charlottesville, the College of William and Mary, and then earned a master’s in painting at Washington University in St. Louis. 

Sutherland worked for years in the restaurant business before and during her first years at Collegiate. She worked at the famed Oregon Hill Italian restaurant Mamma Zu (now closed) as a waitress. Upper School ceramics teacher Mary Artz was a regular customer at Mamma Zu, and she encouraged Sutherland to come to teach at Collegiate. Sutherland told me that while working at another restaurant, Azzurro, she waited for mystery writer Patricia Cornwell, who left her a $100 bill underneath the plate, along with the tip for the food. When Sutherland first started working at Collegiate in 1998, it was just one of many jobs, including waitressing, but it eventually became her full-time job. 

In 2011 Sutherland married Kevin Sutherland, a special education professor at VCU, who had two children, Noah and Emma, from a prior marriage. Noah is now in graduate school, majoring in financial engineering. Emma is a sophomore at JMU, studying social justice. Sutherland loves her stepchildren and is very glad she’s had the experience of helping raise them. 

Photo credit: India Mansfield.

Initially, Sutherland only taught Drawing 1 when she started teaching at Collegiate 25 years ago. When she started, she only had one class each semester and had no idea she would eventually be teaching full-time, which didn’t start until her third year. Sutherland now she teaches a variety of art classes, including Drawing 1 and 2, Painting 1 and 2, Honors Art, Sculpture, and Art and Text. She hopes to create a textile elective called “The Sewn World.” She said that working at Collegiate has changed her life: “It was the best decision I ever made.” She enjoys being an Upper School teacher because she had a difficult high school experience and wants to help students who are struggling.

Sutherland says that one way she approaches teaching art is that she tries to be interesting every day. She is known around Collegiate for her abstract fashion sense and very honest personality. When not at school, you will find her wearing a tattered sweater that says “Be Kind” on it, which is now a joke among her family. Her wardrobe at home consists of mostly comfortable clothes, such as pajamas and athletic wear; she only dresses up for school. 

Dotting My I With Your Egg, by Pamela Sutherland.

Sutherland loves exploring new foods, and she helped start the Upper School’s Epicurean Club. When asked what her favorite food is, she said anything with lamb or a ripe cantaloupe. She said that her favorite dish is spaghetti squash with lamb meatballs, tomato sauce, and feta cheese, which her husband makes for her. She and her husband love cooking and making healthy meals. 

Sutherland continues to create also. When asked what inspires artwork of her own, she said that different materials were her main motive. All of her art pieces can be found on her website. Her working statement is, “I am interested in the space between sentiment and formalism, between beauty and its shadow. My collages, by appropriating and adding to the collected evidence of my life, pay homage to art’s unique ability to give permanence to the fleeting.”

Having Sutherland as my advisor and art teacher numerous times throughout Upper School has been a great experience. She is a teacher I have always felt comfortable going to about personal struggles or life advice. I’ve taken both of her Drawing and Painting classes, and they have been some of my favorite classes throughout Upper School. She is very understanding and a teacher you can talk to about anything. I am very grateful to have had the experience of being taught by her and having her as an advisor.