Barbara Harman

I create related artworks over a period of several years in response to a specific place and time. The resulting work, imbued with the spirit of that place and time, invariably also reflects the simultaneous concerns in my own life and those of the larger world.
Sanctuary is based in the Thomas Sadler Roberts Bird Sanctuary in Minneapolis. This intimate urban refuge became of special importance to me while I was struggling with the onset of chronic illness during 1996-2001. The area was both small enough that I could enjoy it without too much exertion, and varied enough to hold my interest. The writings, paintings and monotype prints created under its influence balance the beauty of the place with my sense of mystery and fantasy and my hopes for the future.
I extended my explorations in 2001 to include the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge south of Minneapolis, where the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers converge. My initial work there closely followed the attacks of September 11. The resulting series, Homework: Meditations on the Meaning of Home, transforms my private response to the site itself into one saturated with longings for the ultimate refuge: home.
I continue working in the Wildlife Refuge, still captured by the offerings of this large, diverse area. Single spears of horsetail push up along stream banks in early spring. Tangled cottonwoods and willow trail and sometimes fall into water at the river's edge, shelter for broods of ducklings. Redwing Blackbirds call for mates over layered grasses, sedge, and cattails in the marshes, where muskrat swim darkly. Whole meadows of goldenrod, giant sunflowers, and asters nod together in late summer sun, bumble bees dozing off in their centers. A family of deer grazes beneath the tree canopy, the buck gazing at me fearlessly as I stand, holding my breath. Milkweed in search of Monarchs claims the small space between an entire expanse of cattails and the narrow land bridge between waters. And the slightest breeze over the water sends the grasses whispering.

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