ARTIST STATEMENT
My metal works are all nature inspired and can vary from representational to the abstract. Copper may seem to be solid and static, lending itself to designs of permanence and stability, but I use it to express the dynamic nature and motion found in my subjects. I am always experimenting with new techniques and will use any tool that serves my purpose. I work in series so that I can explore both the common and differing aspects of each subject. I do this by affecting copper sheet using various printmaking techniques along with traditional metalworking know-how. Members of each series may share design elements yet each piece is a unique original interpretation.
Each time I explore a new species or element I find that everything is relative. Common threads can be found in the designs of ammonites, water ripples, cloud formations, fire, swirls, plant formations; virtually everything. The echoing of patterns has in no way limited the visual variety found in nature but it does indicate how interconnected our world is.
My metal works are all nature inspired and can vary from representational to the abstract. Copper may seem to be solid and static, lending itself to designs of permanence and stability, but I use it to express the dynamic nature and motion found in my subjects. I am always experimenting with new techniques and will use any tool that serves my purpose. I work in series so that I can explore both the common and differing aspects of each subject. I do this by affecting copper sheet using various printmaking techniques along with traditional metalworking know-how. Members of each series may share design elements yet each piece is a unique original interpretation.
Each time I explore a new species or element I find that everything is relative. Common threads can be found in the designs of ammonites, water ripples, cloud formations, fire, swirls, plant formations; virtually everything. The echoing of patterns has in no way limited the visual variety found in nature but it does indicate how interconnected our world is.
ARTIST BIO
Esther Barr considers herself to be both metal artist and printmaker. Her studio in Burbank is filled with hammers and other tools common to metal artists, but her most cherished tool is a massive, turquoise-enameled steel and bronze Griffin etching press. It has become the most essential tool she uses in the creation of her copper panels.
Esther grew up in Marblehead, Massachusetts: a historic seacoast town with a vibrant artist community. She found inspiration there exploring the rocky beaches, cliffs and coves, and while sailing. When Esther was 12 she visited her first professional art studio; a copper artist who generously invited her in to see his process. Her parents purchased one of his pieces which hung in their home for over 25 years before she ever considered pursuing a similar field.
She studied Illustration and Animation at Rhode Island School of Design. She completed her BFA in Film Graphics Animation at California Institute of the Arts in 1982. For the next 20 years she worked in the film industry and animated, designed, and supervised visual effects on a diverse array of projects. In 2002 she started taking workshops and studied metal sculpture and jewelry at Saddleback College. Her interest grew to become passion when she started working with 36 gauge copper sheet; thin enough to draw on as if it were paper and easily embossed. She had always loved relief printmaking and started experimenting with combining disciplines.
To emboss copper, Esther carves one (but usually many more) relief(s) in linoleum. These and other textural elements are pulled with copper sheet in successive layers through the press, punctuated by hand tooling at various stages along the way. Patinas, color oxides, torched fired enamels, and mixed media are added to the layers of relief, enhancing textures that overlap and emerge, creating impressions of depth and light. Many of these elements interact in unexpected ways, sometimes resulting in failure; Esther embraces that part of the process, delving into experimentation on the way to exploring new techniques, as well as new subjects and compositional themes.
Her pieces reveal a sense of movement as well. Esther credits this 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 has exhibited her metalwork at shows and in galleries throughout the country, including California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Idaho, Utah and Arizona.
