Barbara McCulloch

I love a good mystery, an enigma, a paradox that captures my imagination. So I paint with lyrical lines and undefined edges to create an initial foundation on the surface that invites me into engagement with wonder. I continually rotate the canvas and after consuming several cups of coffee while discussing it with my studio cat, something happens to open the door of enchantment. The moment that I see something which suggests something, I immediately pour myself into it in a blind flurry of moving through brushes, fingers and tools to create a layer that just might provide an answer. Sometimes it’s back to my chair for coffee, cat and more meditation. But sometimes - sometimes I am startled by reading the canvas as if it were a story unfolding. This is my moment of truth! If I judge it as it might be perceived by critics, my painting will sink into boredom because I didn’t trust my spirit. If I obey the voice of fear that tells me my new work is out of alignment with the past, then it is me that will sink into boredom. Creativity requires me to face my truths and just keep slinging paint.

Barbara L. McCulloch, artist, instructor and author works from her studio and displays her work a gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She has a strong background in both creating and teaching drawing, painting and portraiture in a wide range of media and style. Her work experience began at 19 as an illustrator and art director in the aerospace industry in Arizona. After fifteen years, she pursued a dream to return to her home state of Montana to live in the mountains, building a wholesale production pottery business. Surrounded by nature, she taught herself to paint in watercolor and sold her pottery to open a studio/gallery in Kalispell, Montana. This became the start of her teaching career in 1990 as she affiliated with the local college and Glacier Park for several seasons, taking students on field exploration art journeys and teaching private workshops. Several years ago, she moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico with a dream of expanding her teaching reach through workshops. However, the pandemic changed her plans and she placed her teaching and mentoring into a course and a workbook, “The Unstoppable Artist” which has since received 8 awards. She encourages students to ground their art in honest personal expression by working from the inside-out, first discovering that the passion of a heart-centered purpose is a motivator to dispel creative blocks, learn new skills and weave together the realization of a fully empowered and creative life.

2-D, Book Arts, Drawing, Painting (all materials)