In childhood I loved spending time in our small garden watching the magnolias bloom, seeing roses reach their fragile bright red maturity, enjoying the sights and smells and committing them to memory for a lifetime. Even now when insecurity touches, I escape in memory to the shelter of the leaves and the grape arbor where I dreamed my childhood dreams.

Today, when I work at my bench, I feel the same security I felt as a child in that garden. I am so immersed in my work that all else is hidden from me and the only reality I know is the piece I am creating.

Just as it was miraculous to watch the magnolia bloom in spring so it is the same miracle of emotions I experience as I take a flat piece of metal and shape it until it blooms and sprouts or mold wire with my hands until it takes form. At other times, my creative forces take another bent and I might take several pieces and shape and work them like a jigsaw puzzle with endless variations.

I let my unconscious lead me and eventually a piece of metal sculpture emerges….one that speaks of my appreciation of earth and nature and all the wonders a lifetime holds.

Barbara B