
Barbara Richardson
ArtHouse, 65 Eastbank Street, Southport, Merseyside, PR8 1EJ
27th May – 24th June 2023
Multi-talented, local textile artist, Barbara Richardson, certainly has more than one string to her bow with her artistic output embracing mixed media, felt making, botanical dying, batik work and print making. A graduate of Roehampton Institute in Education and Art in London, specialising in textiles, Barbara has always been passionate about passing on the diverse skills of her craft to others: “I have taught secondary Art in Croydon, Liverpool and Hampshire but have spent the past 20 years sharing the love of my subject with primary age pupils, while continuing to develop my own work.”
A longstanding convert to beachcombing, Barbara is often found discovering the treasures washed up on the oceanfront: “I take inspiration from our coastline and the natural materials found along the shore. I develop my finished pieces from photographs and sketchbook studies incorporating sea-washed stone, wood, glass and botanicals to reflect the changing light and colour palette that defines the shifting boundaries between land and sea.”
Barbara’s screen print of the inimitable architecture of Southport was created from detailed collages using self-generated photographs, sketchbook studies and recycled magazine print type.
The same technique was used to generate the composite image of the picturesque harbour village of Clovelly: “I love the North Devon coastline and spend every summer on holiday there.”
A keen gardener, Barbara has recently enjoyed adding the natural world to her ever-expanding list of artistic endeavours: “My love of gardening has led me to using hand grown plants in botanical dying and print making. I develop my finished pieces from photographs, sketchbook ideas and combine these to create finished pieces through different techniques including etching, linocut, screen-printing and collage.”
Always rising to new challenges, Barbara has also moved into working three-dimensionally: “I have extended my work into the development of decorative bowls where I combine different fibres and threads and fuse them with seed heads and other plant specimens to create delicate individual pieces that mirror the seasonal shifts by which we mark the passage of time.”
This selected showing by Barbara Richardson is certainly not one to be missed. Catch it while you can. The work will be on display at the ArtHouse, Eastbank Street, Southport from 27th May – 24th June 2023. The gallery is open Tuesday – Friday 10.00-15.00. Saturday 11.00-16.00.