Join Leigh at an opening party event for her show Divided Feminine, United: Recent works by Leigh Barbier in the sfclayworks gallery on November 18th from 4-6pm.
The show will be up in the gallery from November 18 to December 16, 2017.
Those of you who come into the studio on the weekends will occasionally see Leigh while she is watching the studio. I am certain most of you have no idea what amazing work she creates upstairs in her studio space. Well, here is your chance to view for yourself the fantastical imagery Leigh has been working on recently. Leigh is very diverse with her artistic expression. Leigh’s work includes painting, drawing, as well as, clay and mixed media sculpture.
Please stop in for Leigh’s opening party on Saturday, November 18th from 4-6pm and find out more about her current work.
More about the show:
divided feminine, united
The title of this exhibit is inspired by a a phrase attributed to writer and filmmaker Jill Soloway, who describes the male gaze that “divides women into either/or —the madonna or the whore, the slut or the good girl or the many, many ways in which women are divided to be seen as objects when the male character is the subject”. She further offers that we repair the divide when women find their own voices and tell their own stories.
I have often felt divided within myself. Different facets of my personality step forward based on specific interactions with, and expectations of others. This is a useful skill as a woman and as a human, but often exhausting. Aging offers opportunities for self-acceptance as well as the integration of our disparate selves.
These recent ceramic figures express my divided selves. I attempt to unite these divisions with humor and compassion by telling the story of a misfit army fortified with both good and bad traits that unite to form a single voice
If you would like to know more about Leigh’s work, please check her website. leighbarbier dot com
Leigh’s studio space
Leigh’s Bio:
I was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, California, and grew up on a gravel road, running and free between neighbor’s homes. I attended a Christian Science church every Sunday and Disneyland once a year. I remember thinking as a small child that Sees candy was a religious destination and God looked like a tube of toothpaste. Later museums replaced Sees candy and I found order in the universe through art.
I am drawn to religious art, admire Thomas Hart Benton’s line and color, adore the muralist of the Mexican Revolution and can`t get the images of Disney from my 1960s childhood out of my visual vocabulary.
I have found that the work I have done to earn a living has impacted me more than anything I learned in college. From museum model-making to digital painting for the special effects industry; they have both shaped and condensed my hands on skills and sharpened my eye.The highlights have been working on dioramas for the California Academy of Sciences, being part of an all girl team to make a giant baseball mitt for the Giants stadium and digitally painting on Star Wars, Episode 2 and 3. My best freelance opportunity to date has come from my experience working with the San Francisco musical group, The Residents over the last 15 years. This has been the perfect combination of work and art, an opportunity to combine my vision with the narrative visuals of the Residents’ myth-making.
