BARBARA BROWN

Barbara hiking barefoot to Nemo Falls in Valhalla Provincial Park. Photo: Isaac Carter

Welcome to the Forest

by Moe Lyons

While living a life dedicated to dreaming in the forest and capturing its essence, Barbara Brown is about to have another dream come true: showing her work at the Kootenay Gallery in Castlegar from August 1 to September 7. Part of this exhibition will include a book and film launch on Thursday evening, August 8.

“I didn’t even let myself really hope for it,” she says. “And then when I got it, I didn’t realize how much this meant to me!”

The show will consist of 32 paintings from volumes I and II of her book, Sylvan Reflections: Wanderings, Paintings & Ponderings from the Forest. During the exhibition she will launch volume II and premiere her new film, On Beauty as We Come to It in the Forest, co-produced with videographer Isaac Ramana Carter, who also collaborated on her first film.

Watching the films, you begin to grasp how the forest and Brown’s art are interwoven, and why she is compelled to speak about this connection. The films are essentially meditations, and feature exquisite musical soundtracks especially created for her by New Denver’s Noel Fudge.

When asked why she felt the need to create another volume of her book and a second film, she laughs. “I wasn’t finished yet. I had more paintings I had to create and share. I still had a lot to say. I guess I’ve been feeling like this new film is kind of my own personal TED talk.”

From her home deep in the forest of the Slocan Valley, Brown celebrates the Kootenays, sharing its beauty and peace with the rest of the world. She has spent 25 years walking daily in the forest where she lives, immersed in the essential green life she finds there, endlessly inspired by her surroundings. Out of this daily practice emerge transcendent paintings and writings. She takes in the essence of what is there and breathes it out onto her canvases, evoking both the natural beauty and the mystical qualities that give her life and her work meaning. With her unique vision she transforms the world around her into something very like prayer—with some whimsy thrown in.

“In every one of my forest paintings I incorporate an otherworldly aspect,” she says. “I conjure up a symbolism with bits of mysticism or simple evocative geometry.” Her choice to put all this together between the covers of her books makes this experience available over and over to nature lovers and seekers of inner peace.

As a multimedia artist, Brown uses oil paintings, film and writing to express her creative vision. She first captures her images with her camera, and then takes them into her studio to make them hers.

She has toured throughout the Kootenays and beyond, showing her paintings, speaking about nature connection and selling her book and cards. Somewhat to her surprise, this process has proved to be deeply satisfying.

Many of us first encountered Brown when she was producing popular tourist maps of the West Kootenay. This endeavour supported her for 20 years. Then, about 12 years ago, she realized she was finding it just not creative enough. She knew she had to take a leap of faith and decided “to reinvent myself as the artist I needed to find out if I could be. I felt like I was jumping off a cliff ... and I was going to need to learn how to fly.”

She signed up for Nelson’s ArtWalk, knowing a deadline would compel her to create something, not really knowing what that would be. “I tried everything,” she says. “Watercolours, pastels, oils, colour combinations, even a little abstract. What I really wanted was a ‘project,’ something I could sink my teeth into. I asked myself, ‘What is it I love the most?’ The answer was, I love walking in the forest, spending time in the forest.” This was the beginning of the journey that has brought her to where she is today.

From her home cabin and studio in the woods, she has developed a multimedia world focused on her love of the forest. Her web page features detailed descriptions of her work and examples of her writing, as well as videos both informative and inspirational. The site has links to her Etsy shop where her work can be accessed. It also contains her original film (and soon the new one). Every couple of months she distributes and publishes a newsletter, News from the Forest.

Brown’s work has also received international recognition, being featured on Manhattan Arts International (manhattanarts.com) and The Healing Power of Art & Artists (healing-power-of-art.org). Renée Phillips, the curator of these online galleries, describes her work: “Barbara Brown satisfies our longing to feel connected with nature. She brings to life the magic of the forest and all the splendor it beholds.… She captures the essence of the woodland as her love for it shines through.”

barbarabrownart.com, Facebook: barbarabrownartist/