"I've always been fascinated by the interaction of people and why they say and do the things they do. And I could see how theater impacted my work because actually, I have a broad brush when I paint, mainly. And it gets kind of fuzzy as you get close, but as you go further, you see things. That's the discipline of the theater. You're painting up close, but for an image that can be seen from a distance, from the last chair in the theater. So that's kind of my thing.

I've got to say, I'm particularly interested in murder mysteries myself. Because murder mysteries, more than any other story, they answer the question: why did this guy do this? And that's what I like, to answer the questions of why people act the way they do it. Now you can find that regardless of what the theatrical production is about. I tend to like classic stuff, but I can't imagine a more fascinating topic than people and what moves them. What makes them act the way they do? I just can't think of anything more interesting. And the goal of my work in particular is to make people just stop enough to look at it and then be reminded of themselves a little bit in what they're looking at, regardless of what they look like compared to the image. And that's it. Sometimes I'm just sitting at a coffee shop, watching people and trying to invent stories. It's just a fascination for me."

Gloria Pacis is a painter dividing her time between New York City and Hoboken, where she has her studio. She received her BFA from the University of Washington in 1976. She credits her years working as a set designer and scene artist for the dramatic, character-based elements of her paintings. She has participated in exhibitions at public institutions and universities, including Wing Luke Museum, Mana Contemporary, University of Washington, Henry Art Gallery, Monroe Arts Centre, Seattle University, Act Theatreand Seattle Center Art Museum, where her work was chosen to showcase International Women’s Day. She has designed sets for many leading theatres, including notable productions of A Christmas Carol, Hamlet, The Doctors Dilemma, Hedda Gabler, and Salome.

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Image: Men, Acrylic on Canvas, Gloria Pacis