Meet Artist Barbara Dawson
Arts Muster Weekend of wonderful workshops, Saturday 24 – Sunday 25 August 2024, is a great opportunity to meet, work with and learn from some outstanding Shoalhaven artists and makers. Barbara Dawson is one. Registrations are open and class sizes are small so book and buy your tickets now to avoid disappointment.
Barbara is running a two-day print making workshop exploring the creative aspects of gel plate and mono printing using: native leaf litter; magazine images and text; oil pastels; card or plastic shapes, and other found objects. You will discover the ways design and intention inform art and you will be guided use your pints to make items such as, cards, bookmarks, simple books, vessels or framed art pieces.
Barbara Dawson teaching. Arts Muster 2023
Meet Barbara Dawson
It’s a pleasure and privilege to count Barbara Dawson amongst my friends and creative collaborators, and a neighbour in Jervis Bay.
Artist Barbara Dawson in her Jervis Bay studio
On any given day you will likely find Barbara in her light-filled, home studio, with a view out to her native garden.
One wall is lined with shelves that house books as well as bowls of ‘nature’ items for inspiration. Another wall has a display of her photos. As a perpetual photographer Barbara captures daily moments in local landscapes that give her direct inspiration.
Artist Barbara Dawson’s studio
Another wall is full of fascinating ephemera collected from local foraging and decades of world travels. Elsewhere long textile works are found draped over anything that serves as a suitable hanger or hook. In one corner stands an easel and etching press. At the centre and edges of Barbara’s creative space are large work tables housing a range of works in different media, in various stages of development.
“I love the stillness and quiet in my work space and do not feel the need for music. I live within a stones throw of national park and the bird life is often a constant hum.”
Artist Barbara Dawson’s studio
Barbara has multiple interwoven streams to her art practice. One, drawing, mixed media and printmaking. Another is textile and fibre art. Both of which are underpinned by photography and film. Some days you’ll find her house and studio filled with the aroma of eucalyptus coming from pots on the verandah, boiling leaves from the garden to create dyes.
“It is an enduring preoccupation in my practice to celebrate the rhythm and flow of nature, the effects of the passage of time, the beauty of patterns formed by erosion. These cycles of growth and decay are a reminder of the fragility of our environment and the effects we have on it.”
Barbara Dawson, 2022. Forgotten Land (Detail). Cloth, eco-dye, thread. 26×20 cm, unframed
Online Gallery & Shop
You can see the full range of Barbara’s work on her website and purchase items in her online shop with free shipping Australia wide.
