Barbara Gilhooly | Create Your Badge

Professional artist.

Statement

Rich in color, texture and symbols, Gilhooly’s work references a personal vocabulary of botanical forms, patterns and invented abstractions. She’s intrigued by both the complex and the simple nature of plant forms and finding connections with mechanical structures.

In her latest work, Gilhooly is exploring concepts of time and place. Diagrams of complex pie charts carved into the wood surface, layers of patterned motifs, systematic webs connecting random nodes, and patterns layered in landscapes are some of the imagery depicted.

She continues to be fascinated with the visual representation of abstract ideas and exploring the invented systems used to envision information.

GILHOOLY'S interest is in the process of making objects that have rich, active surfaces, which springs from her background as a printmaker. She often finds herself treating her materials with a similar emphasis on line and surface, satisfying her constant need to draw, carve, etch, engrave, paint, tool, scratch, stitch and print lines.

Gilhooly’s technique consists of layering paint and carving into areas and then subtracting to reveal elements from previous layers. This technique not only contributes to the depth and texture of the surface, but also captures the effect of the underlying history of the paint.

Interview with Barbara

Why are you drawn to the media that you use?

I work on wood because I’m interested in the surface and layers of a painting. I was trained as a printmaker, with a strong background in drawing. Line is an important element for me. I like to carve into the wood surface and also work additively and subtract or reveal previous layers below by sanding or scrubbing the surface. I start with layers of paint, found wood and build a rich active surface before a composition evolves. I work intuitively as I apply paint with brushes and cards; or as I remove layers with sand paper, windex, or carving.

Wire is the another material I’m drawn to for the linear aspects. It makes the most sense for me to create a 3-D form by building with a wire line. It’s the drawing background, the basis for my visual language.

When I work with found objects and assemble them with wire, the linear wire seems to unify and bring harmony to the joined parts. It brings the dissimilar objects together and makes them seem like they belong. This is one of the reasons I like the title ‘misfit’ for some of the found object assemblages, belonging is important visually and emotionally.

I’ve noticed that certain subjects, colors, motif such as: layers, botanicals, towers, circles, appear often in your work. What attracts you to them?

Circles have been with me the longest, since graduate school, so over 20 years. I identify with the obvious references’ to the shape, centered, wholeness, world, etc. However, the attraction for me is the playful quality and I love the fact that a circle is both an organic and a geometric shape. I enjoy bridging both sides of design in that same way. I am interested in the industrial and the natural world. I like to combine the two aesthetics when I create. It’s why the ‘Erector set Hearts’ were so exciting for me. Building a 3-D precious form like the heart out of metal girders and nuts and bolts!

In my paintings the combination of the organic and industrial is less obvious. The structure is usually the layers of color or patterns. It could be stripes, dots, or a grid. This is my way of keeping order to the piece. It’s also a place to start or escape if I’m lost or indecisive. The line, carved or drawn can also serve a structural role, such as the towers I carve or draw over the broad blocks of color. Sometimes there is a more organic structure of botanical forms holding the patterns in place.

My compositions are intuitive and evolve from the act of doing, not planning. It has been only in the last 10 years that I moved into working without first planning. It’s not to say I have no thought about what I’m creating. It’s a more trusting place of being ready to plunge into the work without fear. It isn’t always pleasant, and many days of work get painted over. But, I find comfort in knowing the work underneath is still necessary and vital to the finished piece. It’s like so much of life, what we don’t see or notice still matters, everyone has layers that aren’t visible and it’s the depth of these layers that I find most interesting.