Avian Incubators Nestle in at Eco - Friendly Gallery
by Karen Schafer
The Gazette
January 21, 2009
Gallery Neptune's new home is worth more than a drive-by. On the second floor of one of Bethesda's coolest buildings, the eco-friendly gallery is perched high above a very busy intersection. Its soaring windows and big sky views make it a perfect venue for Carol Barsha's exhibit "A Logic of Their Own Making," which features bird nest artwork in oils, pen and pencil, through Jan. 21.
Tackling bird's nests can be risky; an inexperienced artist could stumble into kitschy cuteness. But with some 35 years of professional experience, Barsha has reinvented these natural avian incubators, creating her personal take on the architectural wonders. With verve, she uses staccato-like strokes and bright colors to produce her nests and abstract backgrounds. Some of her pencil drawings are a whirl of Spaghetti-O shapes, while others are subtle abstractions. If her secondary subjects - think birds and eggs - might be too literal at times, her paintings of nests inspired by a roll of bookmakers binding tape are surprising.
Exactly why nests have taken up her time isn't easy for the artist to articulate.
"People want to know if it's the empty nest thing, but I collect nests and like them," Barsha explains.
This simple statement belies the conflict often ruminating inside. Although she feels no need to make a social or political statement, at times she feels "conflicted about the private nature of being an artist."
In this country's political and economic climate, Barsha wonders if she should be volunteering. But, she has concluded, "If we lose artists, we lose the human race. My most unique contribution is to do my own work in the studio."
Her rigorous and traditional art school background includes studying with expressionist painter Philip Guston while earning bachelor's and master's degrees in art from Boston University. In school, the petite artist recalls manhandling massive concrete creations. Yet once she was "seduced by color," she made the transition to painting and drawing.
After graduating, Barsha knew she had to either find another profession or paint. Well aware that leaving the high-energy art school world is often the death knoll for a would-be artist, she learned to work alone in her studio. For at time, the artist and her husband lived in the Bronx overlooking the Hudson River; later, they moved to Hastings-on-Hudson. Thus, water became a major source of inspiration. Her early works depict surreal forms floating over a sea or boats embedded in a watery drink. Even today, many of her nests seem to be sitting in a sea of choppy blue water.
Barsha has always juggled painting and teaching; she now works with at a private high school in Virginia. Adamantly opposed to teaching a particular style, Barsha insists, "I teach students the skills they need to then go on to figure out their own path. I am not interested in sharing my personal style or path. I believe each artist has to find his or her own way through years of self-discovery. I want my work to be pure, to be always new to me."
Sitting with the artist in the former vacuum cleaner store that Neptune owner Elyse Harrison and her husband, architect Michael Belisle, have transformed into a contemporary landmark, her words ring true regardless of the medium.
Carol Barsha's "A Logic of Their Own Making" is on view Friday and Satrudays, noon to 5 p.m., and by appointment through Jan. 31 at Gallery Neptune, 5001 Wilson Lane, Bethesda. Call 301-718-0809 or visit www.galleryneptune.com.
Avian Incubators Nestle in at Eco-Friendly Gallery