BIO

My work evolves from an intimate connection to place and reflects a deep sense of discovering and knowing that place. During my formative years in Saskatoon, I was significantly influenced and taught by the Modernist Prairie artists of the of the day; my connection to fine art was through Saturday morning art classes at the Mendel Art Gallery, visits to artist's studio, teachers who were artists, poets, writers - each taught me to see, to record and interpret the land and space around me. 

Venturing from the Prairies to Parson's School of Design in New York City at the age of 18, the urban landscape and  the world opened up to me a new way of seeing.  Travel, study and work fostered a need to find oneself amidst the throngs of people, buildings and ideas and it began to solidify my drive to explore the ideas around belonging as it is rooted in place or places, personally and professionally.

 

Isolation in a city or in a landscape became inspirational for me. It taught me to draw from personal strength and focused on my ability to learn, to express and to be. Place holding and belonging became my focus.

 

In my early years as an architect, the subject matter was the built environment, both interior and exterior space and how those spaces are sculpted to create a quietly visceral and very personal experience for my clients. The relationship between our interior spaces and exterior, our persona(s) and how those are presented to the world, how we are in this world, how we 'sit' in the landscape. So it came as no surprise that whether in Newfoundland or in the middle of New York City, I am looking for meaning and connection in my surroundings. Those visual conversations are my anchor, my creative practice, my home and my studio in Bonavista, Newfoundland.

Trained by artists and architects in design school, I was taught to see through a rigorous practice, personal & professional integrity and the clarity of concepts through exploration. The fundamentals of design taught me how to see inherent qualities, form, shape and line, etc, and from those principles create and shape a feeling that is evocative, and even innovative. In my current (and past) creative practices research, study and critical thinking reveal qualities that make up materials; raw Belgian linen, canvas, wood, paper, metal, natural and found materials - where the application and the chosen medium create a new narrative; materials imbued with meaning.

 
By exposing the warp and weft of the linen or uniformity of the cotton canvas, the grain of the torrefied maple wood, the properties of CorTen steel, Tyvek et al, I build on this 'foundation' to capture in acrylics or oil, archival inks or Japanese graphite, the place that surrounds me.  The process and the conscious material choice creates subtle and delicate variations within each piece and the story telling begins -it is my visual communication of place and belonging both at a rural and global scale. 

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Barbara Houston’s work are in Public and Private collections in Newfoundland, across Canada, Europe and the USA.

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