Professor Barbara Holmes’ raw and real artwork

“Excerpt from an Arid Region” at the Saddleback Art Gallery. Chloe Anady | Lariat

Professor Holmes’ recent sabbatical proved to be enlightening and noteworthy. Her artwork is displayed at the Saddleback Art Gallery which speaks for itself.

From Oct. 2 to Nov. 14 spectators can walk around the gallery and admire her perspective and unique pieces. The exhibition is called, “Excerpts from an Arid Region” due to her explorations of Land Art in the American West.

She drew research from the Great Basin, which is a vast, ecologically diverse region spanning Nevada, Utah, and parts of several neighboring states. She examined land use, environmental change and the complex relationship between art and landscape. Holmes’ traveled to a variety of landmark Land Art sites such as Michael Heizer’s Double Negative and City, Nancy Holt’s Sun Tunnels, Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, and a few more.

The projects were emblematic of the movement that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s. Not only did the projects interconnect between the environment, creative practice, and access to remote landscapes, but they also enabled her to create a multi-media exhibition. The plethora of natural materials found in the gallery all points back to the Earth and its raw resources.

“I don’t really have a favorite piece,” Holmes says. “I explored so much, both creatively and in the landscape, it is very hard to sum up the inspiration for one piece. All the works in the gallery remind me of the travels I made out into nature and witnessing both the beauty and fragility of the Great Basin Region.”

The presentation includes works such as cyanotype which is an assortment of artist paper, wood sculptures, prints made using a gelli plate, charcoal drawings, tempura pigment on paper, a collection of hand carved spoons, handmade pigment and ink with examples of various plant, stone, and other material utilized to make her pigments and ink. In particular, the hand carved spoon collection is arranged in an organized manner.

There are 11 in total that range from medium to large. They all exude Holmes’ craftsmanship and pure ingenuity. In the artwork space, there is video media conveyed on a monitor and it is projected on a handmade fabric screen.

The video is of cows and rustic farmland, which conveys her overall respect for animals and landscape. There are also four stump prints that hang in the gallery and are pieces from Oregon.

“Of the four stump prints that are in the gallery, a couple of them document forest fires in Oregon, and another was created off of a stump in a place called the “Lost Forest” in Southeast Oregon, an isolated stand of Ponderosa Pines that is mysteriously surviving against all odds in sand dunes,” Holmes says.

Christine Barker, a project specialist, helped Holmes support and install the gallery in early October. Barker is there every Wednesday the exhibition is open to help answer any questions viewers have. There were also three attempts made to get a comment from the Art-Photo Department Chair, but she was not available.

“My favorite piece of Barbara’s is called Extraction I, which is a wood sculpture she created, with the intention to depict a part of the giant earthwork called City in Nevada,” Barker
said. “It includes wood and safety yellow paint which honors Michael Heizer’s structure.”

The imagery she captured throughout every single one of her artworks is rare. In the showing, there is an “Excerpts from an Arid Region,” statement where she dedicates her work to her father, John Holmes, who passed away just as she began her sabbatical. Her long time appreciation and love for the natural world is not only a passion of hers, but is her calling.

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