Life and Art are more exciting
...when you
take risks
try new things
.and challenge yourself
.It is all a balancing act
Barbara has had a life long passion for art. She loves the transparency of watercolors, the magic that happens when color flows on wet paper, and the simplicity of strokes with Chinese Brush painting. Some days Barbara wants to create abstract images with acrylic paints and add textures and unusual papers to make collages. Any day that she makes time to paint, Barbara feels fulfilled. Life and art are both balancing acts.
Spending a semester of college in Florence, Italy was a highlight of her college years and intensified Barbara's early interest in art. She brought this enthusiasm to her work as an elementary school teacher at The Elisabeth Morrow School in Englewood, NJ where, for thirty years, she sought innovative ways to integrate art into the curriculum. Barbara also enjoyed teaching art and creativity classes in the Summer Explorations program at Elisabeth Morrow and led many groups of students and parents on trips to The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
She co-chaired a large art exhibit sponsored by the Englewood Historical Society, showcasing over 400 past and present Englewood NJ artists. As an active member of the Martin Luther King Birthday Committee and the MLK Monument Committee, Barbara helped to select the sculptor and raise funds for the life size statue of Dr. King erected on a college campus in Hackensack, NJ.
Barbara feels very fortunate to have studied with many excellent teachers. She has traveled on art workshops in Italy, France, China, Maine, Vermont, Pennsylvania, and New York. Barbara has studied watercolor painting, Chinese Brush Painting, batik, silk painting and most recently acrylic painting and collage. Her work is included in private collections in Italy, France, Canada, and the U.S. At the end of 2020, Barbara relocated to Northern California where she is newly inspired to paint.
ARTIST STATEMENT
AWARDS
2019 Second Place for Acrylics, Focus NJ Juried Show, Art Center of Northern NJ New Milford, N.J.
2019 First Place for Mixed Media, Juried Show, Art Center of Northern NJ, New Milford, NJ.
2018 Second Place for Mixed Media, Juried Show, Art Center of Northern NJ, New Milford, NJ.
2016 Merit Award for Mixed Media, Juried Show, Salmagundi Club, NYC
2016 First Place for Mixed Media, Juried Show, Art Center of Northern NJ, New Milford, NJ.
2014 First Place in Acrylics, Juried Show, Art Center of Northern NJ, New Milford, NJ.
2009 Second Place for Mixed Media, Juried Show, Art Center of Northern NJ, New Milford, NJ.
SOLO SHOWS
2022 Art Soirée, Fireside Room, Rossmoor, Walnut Creek, CA.
2017 Mixed Media Collage Works, Waltuch Art Gallery, JCC, Tenafly, NJ.
2016 A Passion for Painting, Tenafly Library, Tenafly, NJ.
2015 Small Artworks, Tenafly Library, Tenafly, NJ.
2012 Englewood Library, Englewood, NJ.
2007 Watercolors, Cresskill Library, Cresskill, NJ.
GROUP SHOWS
2024 Curator & Exhibitor, Driven to Abstraction, Village Theater Art Gallery, Danville,CA
2024 Juried shows, Creekside Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA
2024 Gateway Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA.
2023 Juried shows, Creekside Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA.
2023 Gateway Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA.2022 Juried Shows, Creekside Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA.
2022 Gateway Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA.
2021 Juried Shows, Creekside Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA.
2021 Gateway Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA.
2019 Juried Show, Art Center of Northern NJ, New Milford, NJ.
2019 Focus New Jersey Juried Show, Art Center Northern NJ, New Milford, NJ.
2019 Atrium Gallery, Park Ridge, NJ
2019 Rockland Juried Arts Festival, Piermont, NY.
2019 NJ Senior Citizens Art Show, Meadow Lakes, East Windsor, NJ.
2019 Senior Juried Art Show, Art Center of Northern NJ, New Milford, NJ.
2019 Green Save Our Mother Earth, Gallery at HacPac, Hackensack, NJ.
2019 Growth & Change, Belskie Museum of Art & Science, Closter, NJ.
2019 Berkshire Hathaway Gallery, Livingston, NJ.
2018 Salute to Women in the Arts, Englewood Library, Englewood, NJ.
2018 The National Arts Program, Care One at the Cupola, Paramus, NJ.
2018 Creativity Explored, Union Arts Center, Sparkill, NY.
2018 Salute to Women in the Arts, Hackensack Performing Arts Center, Hackensack, NJ.
2017 Celebrating Bergen County Diversity, Art Center of Northern NJ, New Milford, NJ.
2017 Arts Festival at Church of Atonement, Tenafly, NJ.
2016 38th Annual Juried Painting & Sculpture Show, The Salmagundi Club, New York, NY.
2016 Juried Show, Art Center of Northern NJ, New Milford, NJ.
2015 The Art School at Old Church, Demarest, NJ.
2014 Juried Show, Art Center of Northern NJ, New Milford, NJ.
2013 The Art School at Old Church, Demarest, NJ.
2009 Juried Show, Art Center of Northern NJ, New Milford, NJ.
2008 Raining Cats and Dogs, Belskie Museum, Closter, NJ.
2008 Englewood Creates, The Englewood Historical Society, Dwight Morrow, Englewood, NJ.
2007 Maurice M. Pine Free Public Library, Fairlawn, NJ.