Barbara R Brown - Sculptor
I believe that everyone comes into this world as an artist, drawn to differing ways
of creative expression. We are all creative beings. I have been a watercolorist,
an oil painter, an illustrator and more. It was when I moved to Sedona in 1993 and
began sculpting, actually, the first time that I held clay in my hands in a class at
The Sedona Art Center with Eugenia Everett, that I experienced this sense of
homecoming, and Spiritual direction that seems to be a part of my process.
Sculpture enhances the quality of my life, and hopefully that of others. For me not to
sculpt, would inhibit my growth, spiritually and emotionally.
I believe that art is a necessary element in this world for both the viewers and the creators.
It is the window through which we see ourselves, our values and our humanity that allows
us to become vulnerable and empathetic. I am grateful for the opportunity to participate
in such a wonderful Spiritual encounter.
Rarely, unless I am working on a commissioned piece, do I have more than a vague idea
of what I am about to sculpt. My visions usually come to me as I am working on another
piece, and I think “how interesting, I guess the next one will be a dragon, or a javelina, or an angel,” something like that. I sometimes think that I know what it will look like or what
it is being created for, and I am rarely correct in either. The sculpture creates itself, it
unfolds before my eyes as I attempt to bring my intention into agreement with the Powers that Be. It is as though the current vision is sitting on my left shoulder as I work, urging me to finish in it’s hast to be materialized through my hands into something I can look at and touch. It amazes me to hold in my hand, something that was merely a thought.
It is extremely rewarding to be told that a piece of my work has touched another, from
revisiting a special childhood memory to seeing hope for a finer tomorrow. Then I think,
“That must be why I was supposed to sculpt that, etc.” Sometimes, it is many years after
a creation, that I come to realize what an important part that particular piece has had
in the direction of my life. In actuality, I have no idea why something would want to
become material, I am merely grateful for my participation in the creation.