Barbara Poole

When I first started as an artist I was influenced by my childhood in Western Pennsylvania. I drew and built tiny mining houses, documented the barns and farmland.   Through the years I always seem to be documenting and keeping a record.  I make art that explores what happens in a space and each year I make it a goal to learn something new or develop different subject matter.  So in between making very calculated etchings and aquatints I experiment.  All the work eventually circles around and one piece will influence another.  I develop my work in a series, so even with a single image I make many interpretations. 

Most recently I have been drawing what I feel when I look at my surroundings and my life.  Much of my work is representational, but more often I am drawing from what I see in my head, or capturing lines and movement. Especially in the past couple years my subject matter and etchings are about what a day is like or what I see in my mind when I look at familiar scenery.  My work is much less about looking outward and more about what just seems to happen when I paint.  This year I have been making more books that are compiled from the sketches that became etches.  

My work is in the Kaiser Medical Center Northern California collection and displayed in both San Rafael and Petaluma.  Paramount Productions has bought and rented my work to use in their sets for Netflix.   My San Rafael studio is always open and I am available there, by appointment, year around, and in Sea Ranch by appointment.