Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Barbara Coleman. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Barbara, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
Taking a leap of faith, I made the difficult decision to leave a job that brought me immense joy, all in pursuit of dedicating more time to my passion for painting and personal growth as an artist. I had been teaching fundamental design and drawing courses at the Architecture Department of the University of New Mexico (UNM), and it was a role I truly cherished. However, life presented me with a significant loss when my mother passed away from breast cancer after a grueling nine-year battle. The void left by her absence was immense, and it forced me to confront profound questions about life and its brevity.
In my quest for answers, I immersed myself in literature about death and dying. One question relentlessly haunted me: “What would you do if you only had a year to live?” These words echoed in my mind, provoking introspection, and reflection. Annie Dillard once wrote, “how we spend our days is how we spend our lives.” Those words resonated within me. I realized that each day, while investing my energy in fostering the artistic growth of my students, I was simultaneously juggling the responsibilities of being a mother to my three children and indulging my passion for pastel painting during nights, weekends, and early mornings. Pastels, being a forgiving dry medium, could withstand interruptions, but my artistic vision could not. Although I cherished teaching, if faced with a limited time left on this earth, I yearned to immerse my very soul in painting. I no longer wished to squeeze my artistic pursuit into the crevices of my life.
Thus, I made the bold decision to embark on a sabbatical from teaching, dedicating an entire year to my craft. Furthermore, I ventured into a new realm by transitioning from pastels to oils. The velvety texture and the infinite possibilities of color mixing in oils captivated me. It felt as if I had detached my head from my shoulders, thoroughly shaken it, and placed it back on in reverse. This medium shift revolutionized my entire artistic approach, enhancing my ability to perceive the world through an artist’s lens. I was utterly enthralled. Every painting session became a form of prayer, a deeply spiritual experience.
As the year ended, the gallery where I showcased my pastel works offered me an opportunity to exhibit my oil paintings. We named the exhibition “New Directions,” signifying the transformative path I had embarked upon.
The exhibition was a success, filling my heart with both joy and a deep sense of fulfillment. My desire to paint was insatiable. Winston Churchill’s words echoed in my mind. He said he intended to spend a significant portion of his first million years in heaven learning to paint, and so get to the bottom of the subject. The journey of becoming an artist is a lifelong pursuit that requires relentless practice, exploration, and growth. I’m sure it will take at least a million years.
Life is a fleeting gift. By embracing its impermanence, I found the courage to pursue my dreams relentlessly, to embrace the unknown, and to savor every moment along the way.
I haven’t looked back.
Barbara, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
From my home and studio in the beautiful old tree-lined Huning Castle neighborhood of Albuquerque, NM, I often take a five-minute stroll down to the cottonwood-lined banks of the Rio Grande to paint in the open air. Other times, I may be out capturing scenes ranging from nearby fields and orchards to the Sandia Mountains or the beautiful white cliffs in San Ysidro. or painting the landscape Georgia O’Keeffe immortalized in and around her Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, NM.
Regardless of my chosen location and subject, “I’m looking for beautiful patterns of light shapes and dark shapes, and how the intense light-and-shadow pattern will resolve into a mountain or a tree during the process of painting.” This approach to finding aesthetic order in the natural world makes sense for me. I earned a master’s degree in community and regional planning from the University of New Mexico, then taught drawing and design in the UNM School of Architecture, as well as working as an urban designer and planner for the City of Albuquerque. Throughout this time, I continued to paint, winning awards from pastel societies before switching my focus to oils. I have painted in oils now for over twenty years, showing my work both nationally and internationally.
To learn more, visit https://www.barbaracoleman.com.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
I have discovered that seeking answers through visual inquiries plunges me into a state of profound attention, heightening my awareness of the present moment. Painting serves as an expressive, emotional, and paradoxically nonverbal language. It embodies the language of relationships—the interplay of light and shadow, color and value, movement and stillness. Painting imparts the gift of sight, and in turn, seeing enlightens my approach to painting. It is a lifelong lesson to respond to the world with curiosity rather than automaticity. I have learned that nothing exists in isolation; everything is in constant relationship with its environment. For instance, a subdued blue hue can appear intense when juxtaposed against surrounding grays. Seeing with an artist’s eyes entails removing the labels we impose. In painting, a cup is not merely a “cup.” It can become a nuanced interplay of shape, form, patterns of light and shadow, color, and emotion. Even the simplest objects possess their own truths, and the role of an artist lies in faithfully rendering those truths. This is precisely why I teach painting and drawing—to shift my students’ perspectives, enabling them to perceive true Beauty and nurture it within their own creations. For once you realize that Beauty resides beneath the surface of all things, as that aged rose revealed to me in my seventeenth year, it transforms you. The practice of art revolves around asking the right questions as you work—questions that unveil the hidden depths of what we deem mundane, allowing us to witness the unexpected.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Many years ago, I found myself in the grip of sorrow after the untimely loss of my father. Feeling adrift and without purpose, I sought solace by sitting amidst the soothing shade of the roses. My gaze fixed upon a weathered blossom, mirroring the weariness I felt despite my young age of seventeen. In that moment, my world appeared devoid of color, suffused with a somber grayness. Yet, as I continued to observe that aging rose, a subtle shift occurred within me. It ceased to be a mere flower, and instead, its petals became imbued with luminosity and brilliance as sunlight filtered through them. The interplay of shadows mesmerized me. Not only that, I began noticing other intricacies—the shapes delineated by the spaces between leaves, the contours and edges of the rose. It overflowed with shimmering, vibrant, and pulsating hues. As my perception unveiled different facets of the rose, the walls that separated us crumbled, and I felt a new of liberation. Everything appeared beautiful, teeming with life and serenity—a Beauty with a capital “B.” The anguish I carried had been transmuted by this enchanting Beauty. Indeed, the depths of my grief had expanded my capacity to perceive it. However, expressing this profound experience through words proves challenging. I felt devoid of self, detached from my own personality, yet entirely replete and intimately connected to all that surrounded me. I observed the world and the rose with an attentiveness previously foreign to me. My mission is to keep seeing Beauty and seeing the world with fresh eyes. 
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.barbaracoleman.com
- Instagram: @barbaracolemanartist
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/barbara.m.coleman.artist and https://www.facebook.com/BarbaraColemanArtist
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbara-coleman-artist/
Image Credits
Barbara Coleman