One thing my parents got right, was always encouraging me to try new things. I never felt limits to what I could do, if I was interested in something, I just gave it a try. From a young age, I was lucky enough to see life as one large empty canvas, just there for me to fill with colour and adventure.
That doesn’t mean all of those adventures worked out in the end, but they all taught me valuable lessons, so even if they were not pleasant, I am still grateful for the things I learned.
Giving me permission to follow my dreams, change direction when I felt it was the right thing to do, and not be afraid to forge a new path, if there was none in place, was a great gift I got from my parents.
That feeling of freedom of choice never left me, and as a curious mind, I am a bit of a discovery junkie still today!

Creativity and Curiosity are the two constants in my life. I grew up in Germany and my high school teachers still remember my memorable outfits, my dream at the time was to become a fashion designer. I made all of my own clothing, often making up the patterns and using furniture fabrics. My professional path led me into a niche of fashion design, namely corporate fashion. In my early twenties I started my own business of designing and manufacturing clothing for specific events. I sold the business when I immigrated to Canada with my family in 2003. Figure drawing and designing outfits for clients was, where I could use my artistic voice and explore my love for colours and fabric.
Coming to Canada, we were looking for a lifestyle change, our children were young and we wanted to be able to spend time with them.
We moved to the small community of Cherryville in the Okanagan. While small, it is a very artistic community, so I quickly found my tribe and got back into painting and drawing.
What really pushed my artistic endeavour was the new business, we created – hosting and facilitating Art workshops and Retreats on our ranch in the wilderness. Over more than a decade, we hosted an amazing variety of Canadian and American Artists to teach their craft. The immersion into that world of creativity fed my drive to create more art.
I found those artists to be fearless in their pursuit, never feeling precious about their work and always pushing boundaries. This is the most important feature of my art, it is bold, vibrant and emotional. I paint intuitively, always exploring new approaches, always learning! Many of my paintings take me on an exciting journey of discovery until they emerge on the canvas. No kitchen tool is safe from my studio, I often use non traditional painting tools besides my brushes!
I love painting at a large scale, my portraits, figures and animal paintings are often life size or larger and in abstracted colours to convey a certain mood or emotion.
Besides showing and selling my work at our Resort, I have been able to exhibit through the Federation of Canadian Artists, the Okanagan Artists of Candada as well as in several restaurants and coffee shops throughout the Okanagan. This year, I have also been exhibiting as a solo artist at the Coldstream Community Hall for the month of April.
Through my website www.barbarafresz.com collectors can purchase not only original art, but also fine art prints on canvas.
My work has been recognized with numerous awards

In your view, what can society do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I have seen first hand the impact, that art has in society – through non profit and for profit galleries, that enrich our cities and rural areas. I have witnessed the art tourism thrive in our remote area. Artists, who came to participate in our art retreats, spent time and money in the area and supported other local businesses. So many of us underestimate the tourism dollars art venues can create, from open studios, museums, performing art venues, markets, just to name a few. How often have you visited a new place and arts and crafts were a big draw for you?
We all should thrive to create synergies between sectors! Here in the Okanagan, several wineries have discovered, that art and wine goes particularly well together and established themselves as great venues for artists.
Vernon is famous for its beautiful murals depicting our history, offering employment and a tourist attraction at the same time.
Lake Country draws thousand of visitors and hundreds of artists with their annual Art Walk, which I also participate in.
Art is an integral part of everyone’s life, let’s integrate it into our societies and support local talent!

Most artists are creative in more ways than one, so they come up with great ideas! I love being part of that community, where we support each other and where those ideas are born! For the past 5 years I have been painting with a group of artists, who paint at an artist’s home once a week. Wilma, an accomplished artist herself, started the group many years ago after she grieved the loss of her husband, and was looking for company.
The support in this group has been phenomenal, we have all grown in our art and at the same time, we collect money for yarn, from which Wilma crochets blankets for ” Sleep in heavenly peace” an international organization whose goal is to provide a bed for every child in the community.
Creative minds, great ideas and good intentions, it doesn’t get much better!
But there is one highlight, that still gets to me every time, someone views my work and has a visceral, emotional response. That is probably one of the most moving things one can experience as an artist.
When something you create touches another human being on that level, it creates connection and isn’t that something we are all looking for?