ARTIST STATEMENT:
The world of fine art has always aroused my passion and continues to focus my attention on excellence. My inspiration comes from the abstract expressionism, impressionism, and the beauty of the natural world.
Painting with brush and brayer, I blend a vocabulary of provocative shapes and surface textures, allowing form and the rhythms of nature to communicate with the subconscious.
Combining abstraction with representation, my art communicates through suggestion, inviting the viewer beyond the realm of predictability and objective analysis. My intention as an artist is to stir the senses and evoke emotion, awareness, and imagination.
I believe our lifetime journey is the movement toward a collective higher consciousness, and the role of the artist should not just be to record or replicate but to elevate. A work of art can heal when it embodies that intention and the viewer is receptive to its energy.
BIOGRAPHY
Barbara Marcus-McKenna has never wavered from the path of a true artist. Born in Brooklyn and raised outside of New York City, her childhood experiences included countless excursions to the city’s museums and galleries. Inspiration by the modern masters--specifically the use of color and joyful shapes of Matisse, Picasso’s creative genius, and DeKooning’s expressive brushwork--were monumental in her early development as an artist.
Under the guidance of many art teachers, Barbara was accepted at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) to pursue her fine art training. During her junior year she was chosen to represent RISD as a scholarship recipient to Yale Summer School of Music and Art, again studying drawing, painting and printmaking. While at RISD she took her first trip abroad, a six-week workshop studying the ancient civilizations and culture of Peru, and witnessing the mystical Macchu Picchu.
Upon graduation in 1975, she travelled the fifty United States and chose Colorado as her new home. Colorado offered not only scenic beauty, but expansiveness of mind and new avenues to more spiritual growth. Finding personal balance and love through complete partnership with her husband, Daniel, she truly entered a state of grace. With constant nurturing and support, they’ve travelled together, participating in national juried art shows year round for over eighteen years.
The benefits include visits to national art institutions and, more importantly, engaging their patrons directly. Her experience includes travels to India, Greece, France, and Italy, gaining inspiration from past and present cultures and old Masters in the fine art tradition.
Arranging her own printmaking studio in 1999, Barbara Marcus-McKenna works exclusively in monotypes. For her, this is the perfect painterly expression to bring forth single images with directness, immediacy and spontaneity. Images of Tibetan bowls, Greek vessels and Reiki healing symbols emerge with allegory and mystery.
The visual impact of Barbara’s monotypes is both sensory and emotional. Combining abstraction and representation, the work carries affirmative healing intention and reawakens the pure joy of creation and imagination. Barbara’s work interlinks the rhythms of nature with mankind’s desire to connect with universal and divine sources.
EXHIBITIONS:
Winter Park Fine Art Festival, Winter Park, FL
Naples National Fine Art festival, Naples, FL
Bonita Springs Arts Festival, Bonita Springs, FL
ArdiGras, Jupiter, FL
Sarasota Arts Festival, Sarasoto, FL
Mount Dora Fine Arts, Mount Dora, FL
Sausalito Fine Arts Festival, Sausalito, CA
Main St. Art Fest, Fort Worth, TX
Bayou City Fine Arts Festival, Houston, TX
Cottonwood Arts Festival, Dallas, TX
Fine Arts Festival, Austin, TX
Artists Project, Chicago Art Expo, Chicago, IL
Gold Coast Art Fair, Chicago, IL
57th St. Art Fair, Chicago, IL
Lakefront Festival of the Arts, Milwaukee, WI
Art On The Square, Madison, WI
Santa Fe Plaza, Santa Fe, NM
Boise Art Museum’s Art in the Park, Boise, ID
Denver Arts Festival, Denver, CO
Golden Fine Arts Festival, Golden, CO
Aspen Fine Arts Festival, Aspen, CO
Vail Arts Festival, Vail, CO
Evergreen Arts Festival, Evergreen, CO
Pearl Street Arts Fest, Boulder, CO
Breckenridge Art Fairs, Breckenridge, CO
Downtown Denver Art Festival, Denver, CO
Downtown Naples Art Festival, Naples, FL
AWARDS:
Award Of Honorable Mention, Under The Oaks - Vero Beach, FL 2017
Juror’s Award, Crested Butte Fine Art Festival, Crested Butte, CO 2016
Award Of Distinction, Bonita Springs Arts Festival, BonitaSprings, FL 2016
Special Award, Leesburg Arts Festival, Leesburg, FL 2013
Second Place, Golden Fine Arts Festival, Golden, CO 2016
Merit Award, Under The Oaks, Vero Beach, FL 2013
Second Place , Golden Fine Arts Festival, Golden, CO 2013
Merit Award, The Arts Council, ArtsFest, Stuart, FL 2011
Best of Show, Boise Art Museum Art Show - Boise, ID 2010
Award of Distinction, Bonita Springs Art Festival - Bonita Springs, FL 2009
First Place, Printmaking, Indian Wells Arts Festival - Palm Desert, CA 2007
First Place, 11th National Art Exhibition, Lincoln Center - Fort Collins, CO 2002
Fine Print Merchandise Award, 12th National Art Exhibition - Fort Collins, CO 2003
Meritorious Printmaking Award, Colorado Fair - Pueblo, CO 2003
First Place, Original Prints, Lines into Shapes - Art Center of Estes Park, CO 2003
Second Place, Evergreen Fine Arts Festival - Evergreen, CO 2003
