ARTIST STATEMENT

I see my life’s vocation as being an ambassador for the natural world through my art. Nature is facing many challenges right now. I want to remind viewers of the healing and support that Nature brings us and inspire them to return that care and support. I believe elemental, natural images bring the healthful benefits of the outside inside to our personal and public spaces. My work brings a dynamic stillness and meditative presence to each space it inhabits. 

I often work in series where several pieces can be hung together in a space. I also enjoy working with collectors and institutions, when they have specific needs, on a commission basis. 

I begin by capturing images with various digital cameras and lenses. I shoot skies, waterfalls, streams, rivers, lakes, and the sea. I always look for a flow state of mind to match the flowing water when I am out enjoying the serenity of the woods or shore. I am most interested in details, textures, and patterns that verge on abstraction. I also sometimes write haiku inspired by the scene intending to find the feeling of the moment and place. If a piece has an accompanying haiku, it is written on the back of the piece.

I print the photographs, pull abstract monotypes, and paint watercolors on thin sheets of rice paper, infusing them with encaustic wax. Papers are cut into strips and woven together then mounted onto panels. The wax makes the paper translucent and blends the images together, creating a sense of depth and movement which is enhanced by the physical layering developed by the weaving process.

Bringing the element of water into our homes and public spaces creates a serenity that grounds us and energizes us. 

BIO

Barbara Hocker was born in South Norwalk, CT. She has a degree in Fibers from Syracuse University and attended Cranbrook Academy of Art. Barbara’s work inhabits the expanded field between photography, printmaking, and digital media. Digital photos, monotypes, watercolor, and encaustic become works on paper, panel, handmade books, and installations. Inspired by her interest in Wabi-Sabi, she fuses a material sensibility with a love of nature to create works that capture moments and details that are intimate, subtle, and beautiful, as well as layered, fleeting, and imperfect. 

Barbara has exhibited her work extensively, including solo shows in Connecticut at the Connecticut River Museum, Real Art Ways, ArtWalk Gallery at Hartford Public Library, TheaterWorks Gallery, EBT Gallery, Arts Center East, and the Celeste Lewitt Gallery at UCONN Health. Also, in Boston at the Arnold Arboretum, and Kingston Gallery.

Her work is in institutional and private collections, including the University of Colorado Library’s Rare and Distinctive Book Collection, Saint Olalf College Rolvaag Library Special Collections Artist Book Collection, The Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, University of Iowa Library, and the permanent collections of The Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital system in Manhattan, Westchester, and New Jersey.

Awards include Fellowships/Grants from the Connecticut Office of the Arts, the Greater Hartford Arts Council, the Edward C. and Ann T. Roberts Foundation, and Artist Resource Trust of the Berkshire Taconic Foundation. Barbara is a member of Silvermine Guild, New England Book Artists, and the International Association of Hand Paper Makers and Paper Artists. She holds a degree in Fibers from Syracuse University’s College of Visual & Performing Arts and attended Cranbrook Academy of Arts. Her studio is in Hartford, CT.