Portrait of Pamela Winston-Charbonneau — Button Artist, SF
From Counting Buttons to Creating Art
The story of Pamela Winston-Charbonneau begins in an antique store, with a child counting buttons. Her father introduced the task as a way to stay occupied while he browsed — a practical strategy that turned, over years, into something far more enduring. What started as counting became collecting, and what became collecting eventually became art.
Pamela creates handmade works using antique and vintage buttons — objects that carry the physical history of the garments they once fastened, the hands that made them, and the eras they passed through. Her work takes those fragments and composes them into something new: visual pieces that are simultaneously historical artifact and original creation. The shoot was part of Marc Olivier Le Blanc's ongoing portrait series on Bay Area craftspeople — artists and makers whose work is rooted in material skill and personal vision.
The Craft of Historical Textile Art
Button collecting has a longer and more serious history than most people realize. Antique buttons — made from ivory, shell, glass, enamel, and Bakelite across different centuries — are catalogued, studied, and valued by historians and collectors worldwide. Pamela's practice draws on that tradition, but transforms it: the buttons in her work aren't displayed in the conventional collector's sense. They are used, combined, and composed into decorative objects that are also documentary ones.
Maker and Craftsman Portraits in San Francisco
Marc Olivier Le Blanc photographs San Francisco craftspeople, small businesses, and makers in environmental portrait sessions that document both the person and their practice. To discuss a portrait session for your craft, studio, or brand, view the portrait work or get in touch.
Marc Olivier Le Blanc is a portrait and editorial photographer based in San Francisco. He works with brands, agencies, and publications including Levi's, The North Face, National Geographic, and GQ, and his craftsman portrait series documents the makers and artists who define Bay Area creative culture.
