Gail Barker’s exhibition at the Jane Deering Gallery in Gloucester portrays the process of artistic creation as an art form. Works like Untitled I, Landscape 2019, and Bauhaus #3 are complex pieces that demonstrate both the ever-changing nature of art and how a “finished,” in the traditional sense, work of art comes into being. This message is especially clear in Landscape 2019, in which the spectator can see the colors of what could be a warm, summery outdoor scene in the hanging yarn. Because the strings do not intertwine to create the image of this landscape, though, the spectator becomes the artist, for the imagined image conjured by Landscape 2019 allows the spectator to experience a moment of artistic vision, inspiration, and fulfillment. This is the Art as Process experience: to possess, for a moment, a sense of unity with the artist, to feel and understand artistic creation, and, above all, to regard the process of creation as art in and of itself.
Jane Deering Gallery extends GAIL BARKER | Art as Process through June 7. Gail Barker (British) graduated from The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She resided in Beverly Farms, MA until returning to her native England, where she now maintains her studio in Bath, UK. The motions and rituals of daily activities all serve as prompts allowing Barker to incorporate walking, journey-taking, solitary contemplative actions — into forms of drawing, sewing, knitting, wrapping, paper manipulation, and performance.
Gallery hours: Saturday & Sunday, 1 – 3 p.m. and by appointment. 19 Pleasant Street, Gloucester MA. 917-902-4359. info@janedeeringgallery.com
