Barbara Hatfield
“Leave a little emptiness between the distant and the near.”
According to Hatfield, this statement by Wang Wei, a Chinese painter and poet of the eighth century, is an instruction, an invention, and has become a guiding principle for her. “The subject matter of my work,” says Hatfield “is time and space, an exploration of emptiness as a lively, active force.” She goes on to explain, “ My vision and sensibility is shaped by the openness of my native landscape an further development by my study of the poetic and philosophical lessons of Asian art. The work reflects natures directness and its’ paradoxical strength and fragility.”
Barbara grew up on a farm near Thompson, North Dakota. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Art from the Minnesota State University Moorhead and a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting at Parsons School of Design in New York City. She has presented solo exhibits at the North Dakota Museum of Art, La Mama La Galleria, New York, at District 31 Victoria's in Wolverton, Minnesota, in Fargo and Moorhead, MN. Hatfield’s group exhibitions include Gallery w52, New York, Dinaburg Arts, New York, and A.I.R. Gallery, New York.
Barbara Hatfield, Book, 1995, Beeswax, oil and charcoal on canvas, 12 1/2 in x 16 in x 1 in
Barbara Hatfield, Chros, 2000, Beeswax and graphite, 21 in x 30 in
