Marilynn Barr

Business Name: Little Acorn Associates, Inc.
Type of Work: Ceramics, Painting

Contact Information

Email: lilacorn@bellsouth.net

Website: www.mgbarr.com

Biography

I’m influenced by a bevy of imagery, music, literature, and more. Sometimes it's memories of life experiences. Sometimes it’s cultural ideas and ceremony or how my environment tickles my senses. And sometimes it’s simply a fold in a length of fabric, the intimate relationship between contrasting shapes, or the vibrant colors of a bygone era that seek to promote or provoke ambient and visceral responses.

My creative goals are informed by a lifetime of curiosity—how the world works, how we impact each other, what we bring to the proverbial table, and what the take-away is for each of us. Sometimes my works breach altered states and query the very fabric of “who we are.” And I always aspire to offer adventure as well as respite or rather intermission, if you will, from everyday life.

I live and work in Greensboro, North Carolina. I love period costumes and movies; engaging in conversations about the “sci-fi world” (that’s just around the corner); initiating chatter about dying as well as reinvented industries, and posing questions about who we are.

"It comes through me but not from me. It's what happens when the ether punches through." mgbarr

—most times—...waking from twilight sleep, I see shapes and experience movement under my eyelids - sometimes a sound, a scent, how the light creeps in, or memories from other times and spaces share a pinch of an image and as if starving, I grab a tool and begin scraping, carving, digging, excavating to witness what punches through from the ether and through me – “cause it sure ain't comin' from me.”

—patterns are prevalent in many of my works. Patterns that repeat and navigate with a rudder and sometimes not; sometimes building on flat planes; sometimes dressed in layers and sometimes pulsing throughout my conceptual, imagined, representational, and sculptural works.

—there is, also, a terror in making... revealed rather than invented or discovered, the worry travels to "where will the work end up, who will see it, treasure it, loathe it, be inspired or repulsed by it; will it be missed if lost, and will it miss me?”

—the idea that my works will be shared and maybe each have a life, each of its own beyond my own perimeter brews both panic and pleasure. The “work” is a place where rules can be broken, or not; a story can unfold, or not; compositions can make sense, or not; deep meaning can exist, or not—no one peeks over your shoulder, and returning to the “work” for a short or long visit is always a welcome diversion from the familiar.

My current creative focuses involve palette knife oil paintings, a series of paintings that appeal to our senses Guilty Pleasures, and the continuation of The First Shoe Collection that features life-sized ceramic shoes that merge utility, history, and creativity—begging the question, “Is how we walk who we are?”

I’m intrigued by the draw texture brings to an audience and the motion that can be translated onto a flat surface inviting the viewer to pulse, sway, be rocked by the swell of a wave, the calm of a lake, the kiss of the ocean on the shore, the mystery and majesty of clouds and mist and fog… It’s like dancing on the canvas.

Inspired by a vintage, wooden shoe last liberated from a second-hand store, I created The First Shoe, hence the title for the “Collection.” Dozens of sketches followed and serve as blueprints for the collection as it continues to grow influenced by memories, lyrics, costumes, other artists… and a pinch of contemporary flavor.

— Besides protection from the elements, shoes continue to attract commoners and celebrities alike—(you, me, ‘Carrie Bradshaw,’ Parineeti Chopra, Whoopi Goldberg, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Wendy Williams, and more) to a sumptuous footwear feast to wear, collect, and display.

— Come take a “Walk on the Wild Side” with me. Recall a Motown tune, consider Seurat, Mondrian, and Peter Max; flirt with mythology and history; examine what informs your existence, and takes you on a journey to identify the icons that turn you on, out, and off; set you ablaze and influence your choices to decorate, caress, protect, disguise, or hide who you are.