Esther Barr considers herself both metalsmith and printmaker. Her studio is filled with hammers and other tools common to metal artists but her most cherished tool is a very large turquoise enameled steel and bronze Griffin etching press.
Esther carves relief into flooring linoleum; a common printmaker’s technique called linocut. There are large overall textures and compositions in addition to hundreds of smaller and uniquely shaped individuals. These linocuts and other textural elements are pulled through her etching press with 5mil copper sheet. By moving and layering these elements on the press bed, varied combinations are pulled through the press in successive passes. Both sides of the metal can also be worked with traditional metalworking tools to distress, fold, hammer, and raise additional relief. Patinas, multilayered color oxides, and mixed-media are then added to the layers of relief, emphasizing the interplay of textures. Buffing and sanding reveal highlights and depth within the layers. Finally, the metal is backed, folded, and fabricated over a raised wooden panel or frame.
Many of Esther’s designs reflect a common design thread of hers; the Fibonacci sequence in life or Golden Spiral. “You will find this shape in ammonites, animals, water, cloud formations, fire, swirls, and plant formations . . . virtually everything in the natural world.” All of her artworks seem to impart a sense of movement which she credits to her many years working as an animator. “I never see the world as a still life. In animation you imagine where your subjects came from and where they might be going. In a still image you communicate this by showing them in-between those two realities”.
Esther grew up in Marblehead Massachusetts and studied at Rhode Island School of Design and California Institute of the Arts (BFA 82). In 2002, after 20 years working in the film industry as an effects animator she realized that what she really wanted to do as an artist was to move metal. Her studio is in Burbank CA.
