"You are here..."
I am one of the fortunate ones who has always known I was creative. At an early age, I saw there was something different about the way I saw the world. And after painting a pink barn, wiggly dirt road lined by spindly, ghostly trees, I was encouraged by my art teachers, won regional school art awards and was asked by my peers to “draw things”. Rejected by the Gifted and Talented Club for not being academically smart, I knew I was not “book smart” but was still smart and solved problems in other ways.
Growing up in northwest New Jersey, I had a deep understanding of the history before me living among the ruins, relics and rebuilt Revolutionary War era homes. I remember we had that poster of the universe with a small arrow pointing to a speck of light labeled “You are Here”. I felt that smallness. I felt like that speck. I understood my mortality clearly and distinctly as a child. Laying on the grass looking at the clouds rolling overhead, I felt the Earth move and thought I could see that yellow arrow floating beyond the clouds. And I was not going to waste my time worrying about not being labeled “Gifted and Talented” when I knew I already was just that…
After high school, I was also fortunate enough to pursue and earn both a Bachelors and a Masters in Fine Arts. Going away to school began my journey across the country, I have lived and taught in 9 beautiful and captivating states, in 4 different timezones, and completed 2.5 cross-country moves. My journey has not been linear, and I am grateful for the friends and the memories collected in all of those places.
In 1995, I met my husband, John in state number 3 (Virginia) and we have been rolling stones moving for many new jobs and new adventures.
Now that we are here...
In 2016, we relocated to Flagstaff, AZ where we build a home and have set down some permanent roots. We love that we live are 80 miles from the Grand Canyon, and are surrounded by countless National Parks, Monuments, and Public lands. The northern Arizona woods are very different from the ones I grew up in but they are home.
I love that I have easily returned to the landscape as a subject and I have room to continue working with my other themes surrounding memory and place identity. I still hold a deep reverence for history, relics and ruins, they are from an even more ancient era. And if you look really closely you might just see a little yellow arrow floating in the sky one of my prints, drawings or paintings.
Pictured above: carving the block and the 2021 print edition of "Where the snow hides all our secrets" a 5 color reduction print from The Story of Our Disappearing Series for the SW Region College Book Arts Association Print Exchange, now housed in the ASU Special Collection.
Until next time...see I will see you here, in the field, on the trail, in the desert or in the studio...
- Barbara
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