Barbara F Bothwell's Gallery
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Barbara Bothwell's unique fashion of working with paper started some 40 years ago, and she has never tired of it.
Drawn to art as a child, she was told that if she wanted to make art in her parents' home "it better not make a mess!" And so, she discovered her medium of paper and taught herself collage. Over the years she has successfully fine-tuned her fascinating and unique process. Bothwell finds inspiration in everyday life from items in her home to international news editorials. Artistically, her biggest influences derived from Byzantine mosaics, the Impressionist use of color and Cezanne's interpretation of nature.
Bothwell works with two kinds of paper. One is hand-made, which she paints the desired colors then tears and cuts to create the necessary shapes. The other is found paper coming from printed materials such as magazines. To begin, she uses mostly torn pieces of solid color akin to tesserae in a mosaic. She then incorporates textured colors to reflect a transition from one color to another, such as is found in fold of fabric or a shadow.
Drawn to art as a child, she was told that if she wanted to make art in her parents' home "it better not make a mess!" And so, she discovered her medium of paper and taught herself collage. Over the years she has successfully fine-tuned her fascinating and unique process. Bothwell finds inspiration in everyday life from items in her home to international news editorials. Artistically, her biggest influences derived from Byzantine mosaics, the Impressionist use of color and Cezanne's interpretation of nature.
Bothwell works with two kinds of paper. One is hand-made, which she paints the desired colors then tears and cuts to create the necessary shapes. The other is found paper coming from printed materials such as magazines. To begin, she uses mostly torn pieces of solid color akin to tesserae in a mosaic. She then incorporates textured colors to reflect a transition from one color to another, such as is found in fold of fabric or a shadow.