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Barbara Shafer, Movement
September 1 | 9 AM – 4:30 PM
BARBARA SHAFER
movement
an on-going exhibit in the dance studio on the second floor of the Eau Claire Regional Arts Center.
Artist Statement
Growing up in near the Hudson River, just north of New York City, I was strongly drawn as a child to the powerful outcroppings of rock. Even as a young artist, I wanted to express in my work my resonance to the internal forces of these formations and their organic surfaces. My other two childhood passions were dancing and my dolls. I believe I held on to those dolls long past the age when most girls have gone on to other interests. These disparate interests ultimately found expression in my figurative sculpture, which, I studied with drawing at the Rhode Island School of Design. I graduated with a BFA in Sculpture, in 1964 from RISD’s European Honors Program.
After graduation, I taught in a private school in New Rochelle, New York before continuing my studies at the University of Iowa. After a year in Iowa, I followed my drawing and painting Professor, Robert Knipschild, to the University of Cincinnati, where in 1967, I graduated with an MFA in Painting.
In Cincinnati my infatuation with paint as a medium solidified. And, although my paintings continued, and still do, reflect my initial interest in three dimensional forms, energies, spatial relationships, and movement, they expanded to include line, color and the application of paint. What ever medium I use, acrylic, watercolor, charcoal, pen and ink, my work mimics my early handling of clay. I build layer upon layer upon layer, searching for form and compositional relationships, proportions, the edge, and the emotional character of the subject.
Many of my large paintings are the result of my interest in the human figure. Local performers, visiting performers are the subject of my figurative work. In some if my work the figure’s mood is introspective, in others, the movement and relationships of one figure to one another or to the space of the canvas takes precedence.
The desire to be more expressive in my use of paint has also lead me to an ongoing study of plant forms. Melding my involvement in modern dance with my work in the visual arts and dried plants has inspired more abstract paintings. I find the relationship of these two studies to be interesting and wonder if a melding of these ideas might be the outcome. I also enjoy the challenge of portraiture and landscape painting.
I see my daily struggles in the context of those historically faced by all artists.
Some people have specifically influenced me more than others. Those of note would be: Eakins, Lembruck, Goya, Freud, Manzu, Gocometti, Bruegel, Etruscan and certain Medieval sculptures and the Abstract Expressionists.
