| 2008
Exhibition @Strathnairn Gallery
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"
'from baskets to blooms’, how does my garden grow?
From baskets to blooms’ is an extension of the journey
from Barbara’s last exhibition Memory Lines where her
mixed media artworks ‘used the flotsam and jetsam that
erupted from the shed’ of her husband who had been in
Nursing Home for many years and the pods of the Golden Rain
Tree evocative of her last Autumn in the family home. In this
preceding year she has moved into a charming smaller cottage
with a beautiful garden. “I have spent time sketching
and gathering the varying blooms that emerge very frequently
in my garden. Now widowed, I have found strength in this peaceful
process, watching and documenting the seasons.”
Her work
takes on a much lighter message. From ‘rusts’ she
has moved to pinks and pastel greens. She developed a range
of charcoal and pastel drawings capturing the lazy movement
of the Japanese Autumn Wind Flowers. She also captured digital
images of blooms and printed them on Hanemhule paper and constructed
small mixed media and petal collaged works on canvas.
The theme
of the garden was also reflected in the three dimensional
works that were revealed in the exhibition. The leaves of
varying plants were trapped between waxed paper or fabric
and hung gracefully from the ceiling or were constructed into
vessels. These fragile containers used the petals of the Hydrangea,
Geranium and Rose. ‘Translucent thoughts’ were
small evocative sculptural books with waxed paper and the
flowerets from the hydrangea plant. (see
sculptural forms)
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The theme
of blooms or pods was continued in the collection of baskets
and sculptures. The sculptures were constructed with painted
Tyvek polypropylene and stitched with fine copper wire. Because
of the lightness of the construction many of the pieces had
the ability to sway like flower stems. The baskets, also very
sculptural were constructed from Sisal and Paper rope with
a heavier copper wire. These studier constructions were very
feminine with their rounded forms but still reminiscent of
the garden.
"From
Autumn Barbara has now reached Spring. She thinks she will
stay there."
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