Barbara Bartlett
 
 
 
   
 
 
   
     
 
 
   
 

Biography

I grew up in the Chicago metropolitan area and pursued a career in special education and social work before following a life-long interest in art. Since the late 1990’s, I have studied art in the Boston area and in Sydney and have pursued my creative passion as a full-time career.  I have exhibited throughout the United States and in Australia, and my work is represented in private and corporate collections in the U.S., Europe and Australia. I am now living and working in Vermont and Sydney.

 
 
 
 

Artist Statement

The world presents itself as a constant source of inspiration for me.  I find myself  wondering  where all the accumulated visual images are stored and how they quietly or perhaps urgently visit me in the studio.  My work is filled with memory, at times clear and vibrant, sometimes re-imagined through time’s brushed lens.

What captures my attention?  Often, I find myself drawn to opposites.  On one hand, I love the structure and order of lines and grids.  Both the natural and man-made environment offer a feast for the eyes – horizons, water dripping, striated sunsets, furrows in a field, ridges in metal or tile roofs, shadows cast by fences, the countryside seen from the sky, sewer covers, the warp and weft of rugs and fabrics.

But on the other hand, the non-linear world holds another kind of fascination.  I am attracted to the fluidity and non-ending quality of the circle – seen in the sun, moon, bowls, wheels, ripples on the pond, stones washed smooth by the river. 

Beyond form, color and texture play an important role in how I work.  Applying layer upon layer of color, I endeavor to create change and often a sense of movement that allows some part of what came before to be revealed.  By building up the surface with a variety of materials I hope to create work that invites to be touched.

I also find myself constantly experimenting with materials and ideas as I work.  It seems natural to include recycled materials and found objects as well as fragments of my older works – prints, paintings, journal entries.  Increasingly dimensionality interests me and leads me to play with creating pieces that are not bound by the two dimensional limits of canvas or board.

Through all of this process, I never know quite where a painting will take me, which is part of the magic that keeps me engaged.  I feel that each person viewing my work should be able to enter it and experience his or her own unique interpretation or story.  It gives me great joy to be able to create this possibility and to share some of my vision with the world beyond my studio.

 
     
   
 
 
 

Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions

Intersections, Umpleby’s Bakery Café, Hanover, N.H., 2009
Improvisations, The Gallery at Unilu, Cambridge, MA., 2006
Circle Dancing, Main Gallery, Newton Free Library, Newton, MA., 2005
Journeys, The Gallery at Unilu, Cambridge, MA., 2003

Group Exhibitions

2009
AVA Gallery Summer Show, Lebanon, N.H.
DeCordova Museum Corporate Program Collections, Boston, MA.

2008
AVA Gallery Summer Show, Lebanon, N.H.
DeCordova Museum Corporate Program Collections,  Boston MA.

2007           
DeCordova Museum Corporate Program Collections, Boston, MA.

2006   
Transitions, Arlington Center for the Arts, Arlington, MA.
Harris Courtin Gallery, Paddington, Sydney, Australia
DeCordova Museum Corporate Program Collections, Boston, MA.

2005   
Harris Courtin Gallery, Paddington, Sydney, Australia.
DeCordova Museum Corporate Program Collections, Boston, MA.
National View at Grandview, Atlanta Artists Center, Atlanta, GA.
Decisive Moments, Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA.

2004
47th Annual International Exhibition, San Diego Art Institute, CA.
9th Annual National Art Exhibition, St. John’s University, Queens, N.Y.
Bold Expressions, Northern California Arts 49th Annual International Open Exhibition, Carmichael, CA.
National View at Grandview, Atlanta Artists Center, Atlanta, GA.
Autumn in America, State of the Art Gallery, Ithaca, N.Y.
A Sense of Place, Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art, Augusta, GA.           
Francis R. Roddy Open Competition, Concord Art Association, Concord, MA.

2003  
Pushing the Envelope, Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA.                   
Francis R. Roddy Open Competition, Concord Art Association, Concord, MA.

2002           
Printemps, MetroLex Artists Network  Show, Monroe Gallery, Lexington, MA.

2001
Member’s Prize Show, Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA.                       
Light Show, Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA.

2000  
State House Exhibition, Massachusetts State House, Boston, MA.
Member’s Show, Concord Art Association, Concord, MA.
Distinguished Artist Show, Concord Art Association, Concord, MA.

1999           
Dover Lane Atelier
, Depot Square Gallery, Lexington, MA.
State House Exhibition, Massachusetts State House, Boston, MA.

                                                         

 
   
     
 

 

This page was last updated 4 Janaury 2010

The entire contents of this website © 2008 - 2010 Barbara Bartlett, All Rights Reserved.
No unauthorized duplications allowed.