On March 13, 2023, Pam Dean Cable announced her retirement as Executive Director of the Susan K. Black Foundation effective April 1, 2023.

The Directors of the SKB Foundation released a statement praising Pam Cable to beneficiaries, supporters, donors, and all other constituents and interested parties.

SKB Foundation Board of Directors Praise

Pam Dean Cable upon Announcement

of her Retirement as Executive Director

On March 13, 2023 Pam Dean Cable announced her retirement as Executive Director of the Susan K. Black Foundation effective April 1, 2023.

The Directors of the Foundation are releasing this statement to beneficiaries, supporters, donors, and all other constituents and interested parties.

Dear Friends and Supporters:

It is not possible to replace Pam Dean Cable in a way that can match her achievements and the success in meeting her goals as Executive Director.

Starting over twenty years ago with just an idea and concept of promoting and nourishment of the fellowship of artists (that was a trait of Susan K. Black) and finding ways to improve and enhance art education she succeeded well beyond anyone’s hopes and expectations.

Over the time of her leadership she was able to have access to over three million dollars of donations to support SKB programs, staged twenty-four major art Workshops, and produced twenty major art exhibits that were installed around the country in four separate initiatives. And Cable gained sanctioning of over seventy-five grants for art instruction around the country that touched thousands of children, museum visitors and civic groups. Her legacy includes the creation of extensive interactions among artists via social media and a vast trove of video and instructional material readily available online designed to nurture and encourage improvement of art skills.

Pam Cable was able to attract world-famous acclaimed artists to give onsite instruction and demonstrations at the SKB Workshops over the years of her direction. This celebrated list includes John Seerey-Lester, Mort Solberg, Everett Raymond Kinstler, John A. Ruthven and Robert Bateman. Her skillful choices of featured artists for the Workshops attracted over one thousand artist attendees of the Workshops during her tenure as Executive Director.

She was loyal and devoted to promoting and supporting many contemporary artists and journalists over the years. Pam was instrumental in the creation and publication of more than five significant art related books and sponsored or produced numerous pamphlets, directories, and printed programs for events.

Using her experience in journalism and publishing to advantage for SKBF she became an early adapter in social media. Now many YouTube and Facebook presentations posted under her direction have become very popular vehicles to afford access to art instruction and information for a wide range of artists.

Over the many years of leadership Pam Dean Cable shared her track record of receiving honors and praise with her constituent artists and supporters. There evolved a group of “art roadies” that were at her disposal to stage and produce the many Workshops that she sponsored. And she was renowned for organizing large celebratory gatherings of that group often featured at dinner parties at the Workshop locations.

This loyal group of fans traveled from across the nation to produce and venerate Pam’s efforts in organizing the Workshops. This supporting cast included talented and experienced illustrators, accounting and transaction experts, bookkeepers, publication professionals, self-improvement lecturers and councilors, guitarists, singers, pianists, office support staff, expert naturalists, computer experts, communication professionals, journalists and many other talented staff including photographers and video experts.

At a Board meeting several years ago one of the most experienced and respected artists made a comment pointing out that the Workshop staged annually in Dubois, Wyoming was the “finest and highest quality venue available” for artists at that time. This assessment was earned by Cable’s ability to create a mutually supportive sense of community among the workshop’s artists, instructors and other participants.

She organized a juried competition at each event to award the attendees in each category of art submitted resulting in very high quality of artwork and incentives for returning artists to improve over time. 

Additionally, she created annual awards to recognize the achievements and contributions of others. The lifetime achievement awards recognized contributions to the workshop from the members of the art industry and others within the SKB community. The Rose Award Medallion honored artists/instructors who made outstanding contributions to the on-going success of the annual workshop. A photo record was made of the Rose Award recipients every year of the Workshop event in Dubois, Wyoming.

That small town in Wyoming benefitted enormously from Cable’s efforts since hundreds of Workshop attendees occupied the hotels and retail businesses in the small town that would have limited appeal otherwise due to its remote location.

Pam and other organizers recognized the need to encourage and nurture teen and younger artists so she created a program to award grants to young people that paid their expenses to attend the Workshops.

Also, she endeavored, along with a group of SKB artists, to sponsor and organize a program to go into the local Dubois school to give art instruction to the students every year and have art mentoring available to all the students at the school. One parent remarked that “the Mentoring event sponsored by SKBF was the best day he ever had at school.” And many of the young artists from Wyoming and Colorado went on to excel and receive recognition in state-wide and national art award events.

Pam Dean Cable was sensitive to and an activist in creating community for artists. She strived to give attendees of the Workshops and Grants programs a vehicle to upgrade skills and interact with other artists. Cable was consistently encouraging social media, group art events and interaction among artists and wanted the artists to have a feeling of family when they attended the Foundation events. Lifelong relationships formed among attendees and participants in Pam’s programs are enduring to this day and will be honored for many years to come.

Hardly a year could go by without one of the Directors being approached by an attendee at one of the events to hear “thank you for organizing this event, it has been a life-changing experience for me and allowed me to improve as an artist”.

As a result of the efforts of Pam Dean Cable many of the young and mature artists have archived commercial and technical advancement to make career changes and improve their stations and relationships with other artists as well as improving social skills. This is probably the most enduring impact of her legacy.

If and when a Hall of Fame for Art Advancement is created, Pam Dean Cable is likely to be one of the first inductees.

Signed:

James E. Parkman

And Ratified by:

The Board of Directors of the Susan K. Black Foundation