Barbara E Coast
Watercolor, acrylic, oil painting are the primary media used to create this
artists’ unique view of the world.
While art is an expression of Coasts’ direct experience, she personalizes it
with memory and imagination. She paints what she knows. Recurring
subjects of mountains, forests, canyons & rivers, horses, birds, and figures,
show masterful use of stylized forms, saturated color, and symbolism.
Infinite variations, as seen in her landscape paintings represent the ever-
changing seasons, weather, and light, distinctive hallmarks of her work.
Her work evokes a timeless sense of mystery and magic. It suggests
evidence of the ‘origin story’, or how we are all connected, and how we
adapt.
Studies in Geology, Anthropology & Sociology reveal artefacts skillfully
adorned with patterns and symbols with striking similarities to other
cultures’ storytelling thru their art. Pictographs and petroglyphs personify
another way of life that inspires ‘Soul Series’ mixed media. Her signature
‘PLAINS PONIES’ series conveys a spiritual impression and reveals this
distinctive hallmark of her work.
Capturing a moment in time compares, contrasts, and highlights the
present with other places and times. The award winning Muse’ D’Orsay
watercolor was inspired by events of 9/11, upon returning home from
photographing this scene, when time appeared to stand still.
Images of birds, houses, and chairs in flight, appear in some paintings,
symbolizing beginnings and endings. Coast began again after wildfire
destroyed 18,000 acres, and 346 homes, including her own in Colorado. Its
another example of creative problem solving and adaptation that continues
to inform this artists work today.
The infinite horizon and diverse subject matter in Colorado continue to
inspire and make her feel at home. ‘These are favorite subjects of my work.
They are what I know and what I love.’
Growing up in Cleveland, with a calculated escape to New Mexico at 18,
enabled travel and research throughout the American west. Considering
challenges with grace and beauty is key in my art.
Coast has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Fine Art from the Univ. of Colorado.
Her paintings and collages have won numerous awards, and been
exhibited and sold in museums and Galleries throughout the western
United States.