Barbara McIntyre with Mary Oliver, Juror/Curator at Awards Reception

About the Artist

Barbara Baker McIntyre born  in Davenport, Iowa was raised in Santa Barbara, California.   As a child Barbara was influenced by her parent’s love of art and antiquity.   The family traveled extensively in Mexico and Europe visiting   art museums, cathedrals, and ancient ruins.  Her parents were collectors of art and antiquities throughout their lives.

She was educated at UCSB and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Studio Art.  A career in advertising was accompanied by continuous drawing and painting and in search of the right medium. Drawing and painting with her 2 sons as they grew and volunteer teaching art in the schools they attended. In 1992 she left the corporate world to work with her husband “Biff “ in his General Construction business.

Since 2001, Barbara’s work has won many awards in collage and assemblage.  (click here for a list of awards & shows) In 1998 she began entering local juried shows with her collages of washi and mulberry  papers.  Earlier works were often abstracted landscapes.  Gradually she started adding and experimenting with found objects.  She found this stimulated the sculptor and storyteller in her.

From the Artist:

I have always had a love, almost a reverence for old well used items, things others might consider trash or have been stored away in dusty garages, attics and the back of closets.

I find it fascinating to put disconcerting elements together. There’s a part of me that enjoys shocking my viewers, a little bit, but making something totally new and unexpected out of old discarded parts, giving them a new life is endlessly exciting.  It is my hope that my assemblage work conveys, a playfulness and a love of found objects.  I want my art to cause my viewers to ask questions.

Please note that most items I use are in a state of disrepair when I receive them.  I am very careful in how the items are connected and secured.   I brace delicate items with; wire, screws, dowels  and a variety of adhesives are all part of my tool kit.