The Leitrim Design House are proud to showcase the unique & playful work of local artist Barbara Browne in a new exhibition titled Mayhem, Miracles and Quiet Conversations on view from Wednesday 15th of November. This selection of works uses traditional collage techniques. Images are carefully harvested from vintage books and digital archives. Hand printed papers, pressed foliage and salvaged ephemera are re-compositioned and re-interpreted to form new narratives which explore our most common yet intimate experiences.
Barbara lives and works at her home near Carrick-on-Shannon. She grew up in the suburbs of New York, completed her degree in fine art in St. Martins College London. Barbara continued to live in London and later in Indonesia. For nearly 20 years, Bali and Southeast Asia became her neighbourhood. Observations and experiences gained through traveling, teaching, and immersion into various communities has molded her perceptions and inevitably found their way into her work.
In her travels and daily living, Barbara collects anything she can repurpose into her work, the ephemera that assists us in daily living, items that are functional, barely noticed and often disposable. Repurposed into surreal narratives and at times weighted with symbolism. Assorted papers chosen simply for their pattern or colours, Barbara cuts, paints, stains, draws or sews onto them. She sees diagrams charts, maps and manuals as unique languages of communication and are necessary if “we’re to share a particular understanding. These visual guides and instructions help us make practical sense of ideas places and things.”
Barbara utilises photograph’s and images collected from various places including vintage books, old calendars, magazines, online public digital archives, her own travel photos and family album.
She shares an insight into her process: “These photos of people in their anonymity become each of us and therefore play an important role in each narrative. Pressed leaves and flowers collected mostly from my own garden to add another layer of texture and composition. I often start my pieces with a background of colour, texture and/or pattern, creating a backdrop onto which a story can unfold. Sifting through my collection of materials, I choose whatever speaks to me, laying these items out around me like a scrambled code or unmade puzzle. Juxtaposing images and materials begin to reveal a narrative and the piece takes on a direction, which I hope speaks to a wider audience about the things that make us human. These works are my response to everyday life like pages of a diary trying to make sense of experiences both collective and personal. To wondering and wandering, to love and fear and hope. Immersed in a world where we are inextricably linked.”
Barbara Brownes exhibition continues on ARTWALL until January 6th and is well worth a visit. We hope you’ll support this local artist with friends and family. Should you wish to invest in any of the artwork we’re happy to take deposits, which may be paid off over a number of weeks.
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