Discover Sixty-Five: September 2023
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artist. I tried everything I knew how to<br />
do... illustration, graphic design and fine<br />
art, with some success, but not quite<br />
enough to comfortably keep body and<br />
soul together. It was through work with<br />
the Nelson Chamber of Commerce and<br />
the Economic Development Commission<br />
that I learned how badly the area needed<br />
good maps, for tourists and residents<br />
alike. I’ve always loved maps, and had<br />
taken cartography as part of my geography<br />
degree. I figured that if you combine a<br />
geographer and an artist you’re going to<br />
get a good looking map! I took it on, first<br />
creating the Nelson & Area Map & Guide,<br />
then the West Kootenay Vacation Guide<br />
Map and finally the Castlegar Map which<br />
are still an integral part of today’s template<br />
which features Nelson & Castlegar<br />
and the West Kootenay along with little<br />
maps of the smaller communities in the<br />
area. Producing these annually became<br />
a lovely little home-based business that<br />
kept me going for 20 years! But, it seemed<br />
to take up all my creative energy, and I<br />
had nothing left to pursue my artwork. It<br />
was in my early fifties there came a year<br />
of many deaths, close in to me, including<br />
my mother. And then the next year I was<br />
diagnosed with lung cancer. Immersed in<br />
grieving my losses, while also facing my<br />
own mortality, I awakened to a new level<br />
of awareness of what this life is all about;<br />
it’s about embracing life as the<br />
wondrous gift it is, as fully as we<br />
can; it’s about finding what gives<br />
you deep joy and sinking yourself<br />
into those depths.<br />
I heard the calling to “be an artist” too<br />
strongly to ignore. So I sold the map<br />
business. I felt like I was jumping off a<br />
cliff…and I was going to<br />
need to learn how to fly. I<br />
began reinventing myself as<br />
an artist, exploring just what<br />
it might be that I was being<br />
called to create. It was an<br />
exciting time.<br />
D65: What has been your<br />
favourite project so far?<br />
BB: I have always been drawn<br />
to nature, to trees, to the forests...<br />
and the idea for<br />
SYLVAN REFLECTIONS: Wanderings,<br />
Paintings & Ponderings From the Forest<br />
developed gradually from the daily<br />
walks I take on my wooded land. It has<br />
evolved into an all-consuming project.<br />
Volume I came out in 2016, featuring<br />
16 original paintings, poems<br />
and observations. I also produced a 20<br />
minute film with filmmaker Isaac Carter<br />
and composer Noel Fudge of New<br />
Denver to compliment the book two years<br />
later. I am now working on Volume II, and<br />
a second film — all about embracing the<br />
beauty of nature, bringing it into our daily<br />
lives. I have been thanked by readers for<br />
‘bringing the forest to them’ as not everyone<br />
has access to spend so much time in<br />
the woods. Succeeding at this goal has<br />
been very fulfilling, and I hope<br />
to share this further still.<br />
D65: What has been your<br />
hardest project to create?<br />
BB: I don’t know which<br />
one painting has been the<br />
hardest. I find the idea for a<br />
painting comes fairly easily...<br />
the subject often chosen<br />
during my daily walk. I study<br />
it, sit in the forest with it, contemplate<br />
it until I can see the<br />
finished painting clearly in my<br />
mind. From this point every single<br />
painting takes a massive effort<br />
to begin and to complete.<br />
I do not get transported into<br />
the creative process as some<br />
do – I don’t lose track of time – instead I<br />
really have to work hard at it. At the end<br />
when it actually looks the way I had<br />
envisioned... I am so delighted and thrilled<br />
with what has happened, despite my psychological<br />
resistance :)<br />
D65: Who has been your greatest<br />
inspiration?<br />
BB: When asked this question what<br />
immediately comes to mind is the Saskatchewan<br />
Museum of Natural History in<br />
Regina, and myself as a very little girl gazing<br />
in awe at the exhibits depicting Saskatchewan<br />
wildlife in their natural habitats.<br />
The artist was Fred. W. Lahrman. My<br />
dad knew him, so I got to meet him, and I<br />
dreamt of being just like him and creating<br />
such wonders when I grew up.<br />
As an adult I have been inspired by the<br />
likes of Bev Dolittle with her wonderful<br />
‘camouflage art’ and its hidden meanings;<br />
and by Robert Bateman’s immense<br />
talent at portraying the natural world.<br />
And then of course there is Emily Carr<br />
and her forests!<br />
D65: Is art a calling that you can<br />
ever see yourself retiring from?<br />
BB: It’s hard to really figure out just what<br />
‘retirement’ means, when you’re an artist<br />
I think. Since turning 65 and receiving<br />
pensions the pressure to make a living<br />
has eased off, and I feel freed up not<br />
having to worry about that — but I’m<br />
nowhere near ready to stop painting and<br />
writing and sharing.<br />
Volume 1- Sylvan Reflections<br />
D65: Where do you see yourself in<br />
10 years?<br />
BB: In 10 years I will be pushing 80. I<br />
do imagine I will still be quite hale and<br />
hearty and able to stay here in my home<br />
in the Valley; and I can’t imagine not<br />
keeping on with creative projects and undertakings.<br />
Whatever will be, will be; and<br />
as long as there’s a tree or two nearby I<br />
think I’ll be alright.<br />
D65: Meeting Barbara and spending<br />
time with her was really lovely. Her<br />
voice and demeanour are as calm and<br />
soothing as a summer forest.<br />
You can visit her website to learn more<br />
www.barbarabrownart.com<br />
<strong>Discover</strong> <strong>Sixty</strong>-<strong>Five</strong>, <strong>September</strong> <strong>2023</strong> 5