“A craftsman becomes an artist when he starts innovating. The experimenters blur the edges between craft and art, who can say if that is a pot or a sculpture”
With the need and desire to broaden her knowledge, Barbara enrolled in formal training at Sheridan College in 2007 graduating in 2010. While under the guidance of Bruce Cochrane, she had the opportunity to be exposed to the breadth of clay, studying, working and learning. She quickly discovered it was just the beginning.
Barbara is fascinated by the endless possibilities and process that working with clay demands. She spends a tremendous amount of time exploring new ideas through making and taking workshops. Working with a wide range tools, on the wheel, slab, molds and slip casting, as well as exploring the wide range of firing — working in oxidation, wood firing and reduction, the glazing experiments never end. She finds it all engaging.
While creating pieces that are useful to everyday life, her intention is to bring the user closer to the handmade object. To observe the feel, the shape and its beauty. The combination of form, enhanced with surface, combined with process, is the foundation of her work.
(April 2017)