We were lucky to catch up with Barbara Mosher recently and have shared our conversation below.

Barbara, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I currently am in the midst of my most meaningful project to date. Today The world is so divided and there is an emotional toll all around. From lockdowns, politics, financial stress to war, ramifications are felt by everyone. The project looks at 5 major categories and their underlying subcategories, to find commonality among us, resulting in what is called ‘common ground’. This project is important to me personally at this time as I feel we need to document, via art, how connected we all are in this human condition. Once completed over the next year, there should be over 35 works both 2D and interactive. I hope that it will evoke the emotion and understanding that will reveal how connected we truly are. My hope is that the exhibition will travel and be shown at multiple venues. This project is quite different than my normal work. I have had to dig deep within to excavate the emotion of such an enormous subject matter, deviating from my normal uplifting colors and the positive energy I usually draw from.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Starting at a very young age and using cardboard from my father’s freshly starched shirts as my canvas, I painted beautiful blue hydrangeas with my little water color set. From there, I never stopped painting, drawing and creating. I have a BA in Education and Communication. I studied Interior Design at Michigan State University and then furthered my education in Industrial Design at Center for Creative Studies, Detroit, Michigan.
Professionally, I designed automobiles for General Motors and subsequently owned a design and printing company in San Diego; and had many well-known Fortune 500 companies as clients. Throughout these years, I continued to paint and create, leaning to the abstract, since my “day job” was always a tight and a literal form of art. I love the freedom of abstract art, as my soul speaks to me as I paint, often with vivid color and visuals.

My art is eclectic, colorful, energetic, and an organic expression of the beauty and intricacy of how I experience this unpredictable world. Without expectation, I get captivated in the experimentation of the line and the meshing of form and color. I approach each work of art, as a journey from within, letting the canvas tell me where and how to proceed. My work draws your eye in, allowing the observer to see my perception of our collective realities. I get inspiration from the trees in the forest, the diverse music i listen to, the rhythmic garden I cultivate, people I encounter, the Salish Sea/Puget Sound and the emotion of life. I create small and large acrylic and mixed media pieces. Something for every size and budget.

She was selected as “50 to Watch” in San Diego and represented the United States at the World Art Games in Slovakia. Her art is found in many private collections in the US, Canada and Europe.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Life gives us challenges and one of mine, as it relates to my art, was when a Category 4 tornado ripped through our town and took out my studio, my portfolio and every art supply I had collected over the years. It took some time to heal from the event and loss, including my motivation and confidence. Once things were settled and life could proceed the creative spark once again was untamed, and I resumed my propensity for my love of art and the never-ending collection of materials and tools.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Adolescents and young adults have always been encouraged to get an education and to get a “real job”. I see that often in our culture here in the US, as art is looked upon as a hobby or something to be pursued in your free time. I would suggest that art is a foundation for so many other skills deemed academic, that to dismiss or minimize their importance is a dis-service. Art has many avocations that are available and the “starving artist” reputation minimizes the desire for the young. I Have a BA in Education and once I realized that listening to that inner guidance telling me I needed to be creative. I made that choice. Creativity and art have been at the center of my professional life for decades and I strongly encourage everyone to listen to that calling and follow it. Find your bliss and see where it takes you.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.BarbaraMosher.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/mosherstudios
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/barbaraMosherStudio
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/mosherstudio
• Other: Podcast on Spotify and Apple @ Art in Living, Barbara Mosher

Image Credits
Barbara Mosher