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PORTRAIT HEAD barbara bates
Price	$100.00
Stock	1
Status	In Stock
SKU	1BB01CA
Statistics	Approximate measurements: 11.25" in total height, base is 6.25" wide x 5.75" length x 1.25" high, head measures 6.75" widest dimension x 9.75" highest dimension x 4" thickest dimension

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Description

TOTEM/handmade sculpture by barbara bates

This totem, by Barbara Bates, was featured during our recent exhibition of raku and wood fired stoneware bowls, plates and narrative totems by senior adult women at Pimlico Road Arts and Community Center. The Creative Aging Program was led by Trisha Kyner and Herb Massie, administered by the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts, and funded by MetLife Foundation.

About the Artist

Barbara Bates, a retired nurse of Sinai Hospital, is a native of Baltimore who discovered her love of clay by pure accident. Her sister was enrolled in a pottery workshop conducted by the community arts program here at Baltimore Clayworks. For Barbara's birthday, her sister treated her to take the class with her. This was the beginning of a long standing love affair between Barbara and clay!

Though art ran in the family, for the majority of her life Barbara didn't believe she had an artistic bone in her body. She had a cousin who was an architect and her grandfather was a local screen painter. (Screen painting is painting on window screens. It is a folk art form originating in immigrant working class neighborhoods in Baltimore, Maryland in the early 20th century. The wire screen section of a screen door or window was typically painted with landscapes or still lifes.)

At 71 years young, art only surfaced within Barbara a few years ago when taking her first Baltimore Clayworks pottery class. What does she enjoy the most about it? The opportunity to create an artistic rendition of things that her children love and enjoy. After making a black cat sculpture inspired by one daughter's pet cat, her other daughter asked Barbara to create something for her. She then got to work on hand building a bowling ball and pin as a testament to her daughter’s fondness of bowling.

This totem by Ms. Bates is a reflection of her unveiled love of art. Hand built and raku fired, it was not inspired by someone in her life, but by her imagination. It is symbolic of Barbara's belief that everyone embodies an individualistic vision when creating art, and that every piece of art is an expression of personal aesthetic, therefore, beautiful.

Baltimore Clayworks | 5707 Smith Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland 21209 | T 410.578.1119 | F 410.578.0058 | eCeramica@baltimoreclayworks.org
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