Florida Artists Group

Barbara's Bio:

A native of Manhattan, Barbara attended the High School of Music and Art, Cornell University, l'Accademia di Belli Arti in Florence Italy, and received a BS degree in Art History from Columbia University. She has lived in Florida for 20 years, and currently resides in Longboat Key.

Barbara is known for her wall and ceiling suspended sculptures in solid brass. Two large wall sculptures were commissioned by Neiman Marcus for their permanent collection. Both are on view in their store at International Plaza, Tampa.

Other corporate commissions include the Bank of Tokyo in NYC;  Computervision in Boston;  the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Educational Testing Service, both in Princeton NJ;   and the New York Academy of Medicine in NYC.

Notable exhibits include the New York Academy of Design;  the Corcoran Gallery in Washington DC;  the Chesterwood National Trust Museum in Stockbridge Massachusetts;  the Bergen Museum, and Princeton University,  as well as three solo shows in NYC. In Sarasota, Barbara has been given a solo show by the Ringling College of Art and Design at their new venue, the Longboat Key Center for the Arts.

Barbara is represented in New York City by Serrano Contemporary

Exhibitions and Collections:

Group Exhibits - Galleries

Sculpture Center, New York, NY
McCarter Theater, Princeton, NJ
Nabisco Gallery, "A Selection of Contemporary Sculpture", E. Hanover, NJ
Sculpture Showcase, New Hope, PA
“Premier Artists of Sarasota”, FL
Sonnet Gallery, Sarasota, FL
Serrano Contemporary, New York, NY

Group Exhibits - Museums

Corcoran Gallery, Washington, DC
National Academy of Design, New York, NY
Bergen Museum of Art and Sciences, Paramus, NJ
Chesterwood Museum, Stockbridge, MA
MOSI, Tampa, FL “EarthVisions” 

Solo Exhibits

Caravan House Gallery, 132 E. 65 Street, New York, NY
Automation House, 49 E. 68th Street, New York, NY
Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
Sarasota Arts Council, Sarasota, FL
Longboat Key Education Center, LBK, FL
Ringling College of Art, LBK Division, Sarasota FL
Silver City Museum, NM

Corporate Collections

Bank of Tokyo, New York, NY
Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ
Maher Terminals, Inc., Port of New York/New Jersey
New Jersey Bell, Executive Suite, Corporate Headquarters, Newark, NJ
Computervision, Boston, MA
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Princeton, NJ
The Guggenheim Corporation, North Bergen, NJ
New York Academy of Medicine, New York, NY
PlasmaTherm, Tampa, FL
Neiman Marcus, Tampa FL
The Observer Group Newspapers, Sarasota FL

Artists Statement:

I grew up in Manhattan, if not surrounded by art, certainly next door to it, as we lived adjacent to the Guggenheim Museum. The museum’s first floor was then filled with Brancusi’s abstract sculptures, which I loved beyond any visual objects I’d seen before. They were my friends, and I visited them each day after elementary school.

Throughout Music and Art High School, Cornell University School of Fine Arts, l’Accademia di Belli Arti in Florence, Italy, and Columbia University, my primary interest was always sculpture.

From stone and wood carving, where my goal was to take away in order to find the essence of a form within, I moved on to welding, as my interest turned to the building up of sculptural forms. Currently I weld primarily in brass.

Sculpture for me is an ongoing experiment with forms in space.
Most pieces are also visual expressions of a feeling or an idea.

ALTAR, for example, a 6 foot high geometric outdoor sculpture shown at Chesterwood Museum in Stockbridge MA, was designed as a tribute to the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins; it and smaller pieces in this series are peaceful forms through which space and energy flow.

A different feeling was attempted in my BOX sculptures. These open form brass sculptures extend aggressively into the viewer’s space, to impart a feeling of conflict between penetrating interior forms and  static outer surfaces. Positioned on either wall or floor, their lids are forced partially open by rigid or swirling lengths of rod inside.

The image of conflict is repeated in a hinged TRAP, which swings outward from the wall (or floor), to reveal jagged extrusions. TRAP is also designed to question what is real and what is art. In an outdoor setting, its arms sprung open, this sculpture could function as a real trap. Placed in a gallery, however, the piece becomes an art object, its frontal repetitions of pointed shafts mere hints of violence.

Tension between active and static shapes also informs my UNDER WRAPS series. The viewer’s perception will decide if the forms inside layers of acrylic appear to be trapped or to float free. In visual terms, the use of acrylic panels in these pieces enabled me to create both mass and transparency at the same time, marking a departure from my open form brass sculptures.

My two series, TOPOGRAPHY, and BURNED/ SLASHED/ PAINTED, resulted from further experimentation with acrylic. Until then, my emphasis had always been on the sculpture’s final form. Here, however, the process was paramount. The process of burning, then gauging and staining this translucent material was meant to evoke images of destruction, both geographic and human.

In FAMILY OF FOUR, I’ve attempted to use the language of abstract sculpture to hint at the idea of relationships. It may seem strange to employ geometric shapes in strong materials to portray so sensitive and fragile a subject; but although brass and aluminum make for mighty ties, they are not nearly so strong as the invisible bonds that connect us to another.

Under Wraps

My use of acrylic in the UNDER WRAPS series marks a departure from the open-form brass pieces I’d done in the past. With acrylic, I found the ability to create both mass and transparency at the same time. In addition, the combination of disparate media in each piece is meant to transmit a feeling of tension. The viewer’s perception will decide if copper forms within acrylic layers are trapped or float free.

Topography I – IV
Burned/ Slashed/ Painted I-III

These two series resulted from further experimentation with acrylic. Until then, my emphasis had always been on the sculpture’s final form. Here, however, the process was paramount. The process of burning, then gauging and staining this translucent material, is meant to evoke images of destruction, both geographic and human.

Trap and Boxes

In terms of form, I have attempted to bring movement to the most static of geometric volumes. A box, by nature of its right angles is peaceful, a form at rest. The introduction of swirling or jagged elements within these placid boxes however, is designed not only to create movement, but also to impart a feeling of conflict between active shapes trapped inside and lids against which they seem to be pushing.

The image of conflict is repeated in a hinged TRAP, which swings outward from the wall extending into the viewer’s space to reveal rigid extrusions. TRAP is also designed to question what is real and what is art. In an outdoor setting, its arms sprung open, this sculpture could function as a real trap. Placed in a gallery, however, the piece becomes an art object, its pointed shafts mere hints of violence.

Abstract Sculpture for me is ongoing experiment

With Forms in Space
In Addition, each series gives visual expression to a ffelling or an idea

Small Works:

I have recently been exploring different media and methods of construction. I start with an idea, which I work out in a series of pieces, as variations on a theme, using what ever materials feel valid to me.

In my CIRCLE series, I’ve experimented with the idea of dissecting the circle in various ways. A zig-zag of steel thread over painted aluminum and canvas appears to hold the circle together.

GEOMETRY wall sculptures attempt to create three dimensional effects with right angle forms stitched on aluminum, using steel thread, then mounted on a painted canvas background.

PERSONAL / UNIVERSAL

EARTH EVENTS

Photos, (including a couple of simulated events from the Hayden Planetarium in New York City), inspired some of these wall sculptures – imagination and feelings for planet Earth, the others.

My drawing implement was a blowtorch – the burned acrylic sheet was then attached to brushed aluminum, to create sculptural volume from otherwise flat surfaces.

                               FROM   SKETCH   TO   SCULPTURE