Episode 41 - Barbara Reade

Barbara Reade lives right beside Lake Ontario in the heart of downtown Burlington. The windows of her my studio space look out on a sweeping vista of sky, water and all the urban elements that make up her vibrant neighbourhood. Barbara’s palette is often influenced by the colours that she sees with a mix of natural hues, highly saturated pigments and the weathered stone neutrals of the local architecture.

When describing her work, describes a powerful interplay between wildness and precision that draws her to abstraction, much like the mix of the natural and urban landscape in which she lives. There is an exhilarating energy that happens when these two opposites coexist. 

Technically, Barbara is a mixed media artist, which means that she uses a variety of materials to layer and build history on the surface of each painting. Every painting that she make begins with play. Barbara never knows where a piece is headed, which keeps her studio practice fresh and unpredictable. One of her goals as an artist is to keep exploring and pushing my limits, whether that be with materials, scale or with new techniques.

On today’s episode Barbara talks about her return to art making after many years away, how her aversion to rectangles lead to her current totem series and launching “No Brush Required”, her weekly artists chats on instagram with Tamara Grand and guest artists. 

Interested in seeing some of Barbara’s work. Go to their website at https://barbarareade.com/

Find Barbara on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/bdreade_art 

Find me on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/artconversationswithlisajayne/ or at my website at www.lisajayneirvine.com