Born in Montreal, Barbara spent the majority of the last 20 years in Italy where she feels inspired by the beauty of nature and the rich artistic history.
She travelled back and forth between Tuscany, Italy and Sussex, England from 2012 to 2016 as she was doing her training in Steiner inspired art and art therapy at Tobias School of Art and Art Therapy.
Barbara was artist in residence at the Goetheanum, the world center for anthroposophy, in Switzerland from October 2016 to April 2017. She continued her research of the theme “ The Sacred in Nature” in her artwork and discovered that painting with plant colours is healing both for the artist and for the viewer as the image embodies the cosmic forces of the plant.
Her anthroposophical studies have inspired a deeper spiritual mood and technique; primary interests in her artwork are nature and plants; spirituality and colour. She is not completely representational nor completely abstract. She paints what she sees but the work is not completely figurative as her main interest is expressing moods and feeling through colour for example, the earth beneath our feet, the air which circulates around us, the flower’s perfume, the variations in light, the heat of the sun on our skin. These are all sensations which are transmitted through the soul moods of the paintings.
Her goal is to bring healing by helping people to reconnect to nature and to create balanced and harmonious images that will enable positive spiritual forces to manifest more strongly in the world.
Exhibitions
Retrospective Exhibition II, Locanda degli Artisti, Casanova, PI, April 2021 to April 2022.
Collective Exhibition, Proloco di Seravezza & Galleria la Seravezziana, December ’19 to January ’20.
Premio Internazionale Michelangelo Buonarroti, Palazzo Mediceo, Seravezza, November – December ‘19
MascherArte, Proloco di Seravezza, 16 February to 16 March 2018
Personal & Collective, Circolo Arci di Solaio, 17 March to 17 April 2018
Dalla Foto alla Pittura, Proloco di Seravezza, 15 December 2018 to 14 January 2019
Summer is Over, Proloco di Seravezza, 20 October 2018 to 19 November 2019
Fil Rouge, CasAle di Solaio, 2 October to 4 December 2018
The Accidental Exhibition , Gallery 1313, Toronto CA, July 2018
Retrospective Exhibition, Trinity St. Paul’s Church Toronto, July 2018
Retrospective Exhibition, Levigliani Wine Art Festival, LU, Italy. August 2017
Fan Arte , Marina Eventi Tonfano, LU, Italy. 21 June to 1 July 2017
Incontro d’Arte a Pietrasanta, Galleria Daliano Ribani, LU, Italy. February 2017
Artist in Residence, Goetheanum, Dornach CH, October 216 – April 2017
Collective Exhibition, La Seravezziana, LU, Italy. September 2016 to present
Retrospective, Il Caffè del Palazzo, LU, 19 August – 16 September 2016
Retrospective, Christian Community, Forest Row, UK. 27 May to 9 June 2016
Collective Exhibition, Creativity Festival, Koorana Center, UK. May 2016
Retrospective Exhibition, La Locanda degli Artisti, Italy. June – August 2015
Collective Exhibition, Pittore Itinerante della Versilia, Italy, August 2014
Collective Exhibition, Koorana Center, Ardingly, UK, February – July 2014
Colori dell’anima,(Colours of the Soul) Massa, Italy, May 2012
Collective Exhibition, Vinamore, Pietrasanta, Italy, May 2011 – August 2013
Gatti Matti, (Crazy Cats) Collective Exhibition, Fiesole, February 2010
Mostra del Libro e del Fumetto, (Book and Cartoon Exhibition) Fiesole, IT. May 2010
Retrospective Exhibition, La Piadinoteca, Pietrasanta, Italy. August 2008
Retrospective Exhibition, Blackwater Pub, Pietrasanta, Lucca. July 2006
Danzare la Vita III, (Dancing Through Life III) Art Café 41, Pietrasanta, April 2006
Danzare la Vita II, (Dancing Through Life II) Laboratorio Linguistico, Massa, June 2005
Danzare la Vita I, (Dancing Through Life I) Town Hall Massarosa, May 2004
Qualifications
2012 – 2015 City and Guilds Level V ( ACGI), Transpersonal Arts for Health and Wellbeing, Tobias School of Art and Art Therapy, Uk
1993 RSA TEFL Certificate to teach English as a Foreign Language to adults, International House, London
1990 Diploma to teach French as a Second Language, Beginner and Intermediate levels , University of Toronto, Canada
1988-1989 Diploma in Visual Art, Specialization to teach Visual Art teach at Elementary and Secondary Levels, McGill University, Montreal
1987-1988 Bachelor of Arts, Specialized Honours Fine Arts, University of Guelph, On
1979 – 1984 AOCA – Associate Ontario College of Art, Toronto, Canada (General Studies)