BIOGRAPHY
What is abstract art? Like music, it allows us to transcend our own world and experience a total different reality. Through the use of color, line and form, abstract art is capable of transmitting expressive, historical, even philosophical information. But first, we need to cultivate the skills of imagination, non-concrete thinking, and intuition. And we need to trust our instinctive reactions, how we feel when we first confront a work of art that is foreign to our habitual or conventional way of seeing the world. There is so much that we miss.
My painting began in play, from the pure pleasure of applying color and paint to paper and canvas. When I first began to paint my goal was to see and really observe the simplicity and the clarity of things in life. That attempt was repeated again and again. In a certain painting a decision was made to carry the energy of some exquisite yellow flowers beyond the boundaries of the visual. Being open to intuition and possibility and finding the balance between color and form became my goal. That was my liberation surpassing my original vision.
I see the abstract everywhere; the stones in a stream, rushing water, the mold on a tree, a cloud in a landscape, and the landscape itself. At first, when I returned to painting, my abstractions required only watercolor and inks. Gradually, I added colored pencils, pastels, and collage, as the need arose. For the last fifteen years I have used mainly handmade paper. And finally I moved from watercolor to acrylic for the greater flexibility I found in the new medium.
Resume
February 8, 1946	Born in the Bronx, New York
September 1964 - June 1967	Attended UCLA, majoring in dance, then painting and sculpture.
September 1967 - June 1969	Graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute and pursued a career in pottery and tilemaking until her first child was born in 1984.
December 1984	Barbara used watercolors for the first time while experimenting with handmade paper.
Exhibitions
1989 - 1998	Ann Leonard Gallery, Woodstock,. N.Y. - represented for three periods of six months.
May - June 1994	Mount Gulian Museum, Dutchess County - solo show
September 1994	Ambrosia Restaurant, Kingston, NY - solo show
September - November 1994	Elena Zang Gallery, Woodstock, NY
November - December 1996	Hummingbird Jewelers, Rhinebeck, NY - solo show
May 1997	New World Home Cooking, Woodstock,NY - solo show
August 1997	Fleet Bank, Woodstock, NY - solo show
January - April 1999	Landau Grill, Woodstock - two person show
September 1999	Hudson United Bank, Woodstock - solo show
August 1999	Kleinert Gallery, Woodstock - group show
February - June 2000	Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY group
August 2000	Woodstock Artists Association - group show - Honorable mention
January - May 2001	Landau Grill, Woodstock - two person show
January - February 2001	Albert Shahinian Gallery, Poughkeepsie.NY two woman show
July - August 2001	Woodstock Artists Ass. - one woman show
September - November 2001	Blue Mountain Bistro, Woodstock - solo show
December 2001	Studio fire - all work and materials lost. A new beginning.
February 2002	Changes (Rauschenberg) financial assistance grant $1000
March 2002	Gottlieb Foundation, emergency assistance - $3500
2002-2003	New Art International - accepted into catalog
April 2002	Represented by Art Forms - Red Bank, NJ
March 2003	Fleet Bank, Woodstock, NY - solo show
May 2003	The Uptown, Kingston, NY - solo show
July 2003	Represented by Woodstock Watercolors, Woodstock, NY Represented by Phyllis Colman, Los Angeles, CA
September - November 2003	Taught calligraphy/art class at G Washington Elementary School - TAP grant
November 2003	Represented by Woodstock Gallery of Art
January 2004	In the corporate collection of Pfizer
July 2004	One woman show - Fleet Bank, Woodstock, NY
August 2004 - November 2005	One woman show - Woodstock Therapy Center
August 2004	Barbara curates a show of five abstract artists under the title of "An Abstract Vision", for the Inquiring Mind Bookstore in Saugerties, NY
February 2005	Bank of America - Woodstock, NY
March 5 - April 30, 2005	Caldwell Banker - Kingston, NY
May 5 - June 30, 2005	Richart Chocolate and Design Gallery, 7 East 55 St, New York, NY