ARTIST STATEMENT
I began painting in later life in an effort to “learn to see”. Landscapes and Mindscapes. Old buildings, nature, tender human moments and excursions into the absurd, all fascinate me. Sometimes it’s the challenge of “capturing” an external image, and other times it is about “releasing” an internal idea.
Acrylic is my main medium. Style varies from representational expression to intuitive flow in an interplay with the subject matter and the emotive qualities that are seeking expression. Evocative and textural often describe my work. My current series is a struggle to understand the multi-dimensional ways information flows. Information is continually flowing within us, between us, and across generations. Epigenetics, intuition, words, coding, symbols, archetypes, mysticism, culture, and DNA. Our minds are always processing thru multiple channels. Awareness heightens our capacity for integration which leads to FLOW. Interspersed with these works are more traditional, less abstracted pieces. These keep me grounded while the next emanation matures.
I am informed by a lifetime of seeking. I work as a therapist integrating neuroscience with gestalt and sensorimotor work. Science, Spirit, and The Body mirror my artwork. Insights are gained from seeing the world through the eyes of hundreds of others as well as my own journeys.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Barbara grew up in Chicago, IL where she lived and worked until relocating to Ludington, MI in her 40’s. Though art was always a part of her life she had no formal art education. In 2015 she enrolled in art classes at the local community college (West Shore). She studied drawing and painting for several semesters under Cheri Petri, Michele Anscombe, and Eden Unulata-Foley. The genie was released from the bottle and the creative process began to flow, leading to her one-woman show “Short Stories from the Heart: Spaces, Places, Memories and Dreams” (August 2019), Ludington Area Center for the Arts.
Barbara continues to work as an artist.
Exhibitions include one-woman show: Short Stories from the Heart: Spaces, Places, Memories and Dreams (August 2019), Ludington Area Center for the Arts; Open Artist Show (December 2019) Woman Made Gallery, Chicago IL; Several shows at the Ludington Area Center for the Arts, and Manistee Ramsdell Art Center. Some original works are available at: Painted Frog Studio, Pentwater, MI.
© Barbara Forgue