 |
BioBarbara Parkin was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and moved to Vancouver
at a young age. In 1990 she finished a Fine Arts degree from UBC.
Throughout the 90s, she wrote short stories, many of which were
published in Canadian literary magazines such as Capilano Review,
Descant, Grain, Queen's Quarterly, Canadian Fiction Magazine and
others. A collection of her stories was published as a book by
Nightwood Editions (Harbour Publishing) in 1996.
Her artistic focus has
since turned to painting and through the Federation of Canadian Artists
(of which she is now an Active Status member) has been working with
number of lower mainland artists practicing in acrylics.
Awards:
Award of Excellence, Federation of Canadian Artists (February, 2008)
Award of Merit, Delta Arts Council (April, 2007)
2nd Prize, North Vancouver Arts Council (January, 2007)
Artist statementThe geography of our childhood landscapes is always with us. I grew up on the crest of a hill at 11th Avenue, near Crown Street in Vancouver. The vertical subject matter of my paintings I believe comes from childhood hours spent at the kitchen window drawing through, above and around trees which opened to a broad view of the north shore mountains and the growing (vertical) city downtown. The house was surrounded by 9 ft laurel hedges, as well as a cedar, fir, apple, peach, plum and a cherry tree. Along Crown Street, huge boulevard trees took charge of the everyday walk to school. The school itself was bordered by a forest. It seemed one was always in some kind of consultation with the trees. Both my paintings and fiction have considered trees as subject
matter ("You are Mine," Queen's Quarterly 100:3) or as back story ("In
Hiding" Canadian Author & Bookman, Spring 1994). I currently live near Granville Island in Vancouver. |