Barbara Poole

 My art is often experimental and based on what I see and feel. I notice that I am always documenting, whether it be the passage of time or my surroundings. Primarily I am a printmaker, but I often make a series based on the same idea in oil, watercolor and sometimes taking it to 3 dimensions.  I’ve been influenced by other artists, usually printmakers who do unusual techniques, and by my childhood in rural Pennsylvania.  My goal is to learn new skills and develop art methods I haven’t done before every year which has led to challenges and many surprises.  This year I have begun using gouache after many years of admiring David Park’s gouache studies. 

Since the pandemic, my art has become more about the experience of looking at the world and myself in a different way.  The twisting and intertwining pieces I have recently made seem to have come from this as well as some books that include parts of my work from the past.

My work is collected by Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, and displayed in their San Rafael and Petaluma offices.  Paramount Theaters has collected and rented many of my pieces to use for Netflix.

I participate in The Studio Discovery Tour each year and show at the Dolphin Gallery in Gualala, and in my San Rafael Studio at 1337 4th Street, San Rafael.