Q & A with Artist Barbra Riley
By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor
After teaching art, design, photography and watercolor painting at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi After for more than 30 years, Babra Riley decided to retire, relocate and follow her own muse. Working from a studio in the Hill Country, Riley focuses on digital media, alternative processes and mixed media.
Her photographs and paintings have been included in exhibition in art centers and galleries across Texas and beyond, including The National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.; the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston; Houston Center for Photography; Laguna Gloria Museum in Austin; the Laguna Beach Museum of Art in California, and others. Her work can also be found in numerous permanent collections, including the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Harry Ransom Center at UT Austin, and the AT&T Center in San Antonio.
Right now, however, you can see her work at the Musical Bridges Around the World Gallery, just north of San Antonio near Boerne Stage Rd. We are presenting here a Q&A with the artist.
Tell us how you developed an interest in photography?
I was exposed to historical photography as a child because my father was in book production in New York City, and brought home books on photographers that were published by museums and galleries, although not many galleries showed photography at that time. He had many stories to tell about Ansel Adams, Eliot Porter, Edward Steichen, Gary Winograd and many, many more. (Later) I married a photography student in art school – briefly-– and continued to learn. So, by the time I actually took a photography class, I had quite a background historically and aesthetically. It was then I enrolled in Beginning Photography to learn to photograph my paintings. My master’s degree is in photography and studio art.
How did you transition from photography to mixed media?
I was always there.
Tell us about the MBAW exhibit. Did you have an overall theme in mind?
The curator, Diana Roberts, and I decided to show my still lifes that I have been working on for many years.
Please describe your approach/process in creating your mixed media works. (An example is a beautiful piece titled “La Route de la Soie,” which translates to “Silk Road”)
On my travels to Northwestern China (the historic Silk Road) in 1985, I brought back photographs and beautiful handmade traditional textiles. I was thinking about them after recently reading about the controversial re-education camps for the Uyghurs, a minority population in Xinjiang. This led me to honor the handwork of the Uyghurs in a photograph along with knitted fabric, yarn and silk fiber.
The scale contains red, iron-rich dirt from the side of the road in Georgia. The vase was made by the late Bill Money, a former student of mine and a beautiful ceramic artist and human being. Lastly, some fossils are included and some office supplies to acknowledge the passage of time from the old to the new.
When I create a still life, it’s much like painting in that I don’t know what the finished product will look like. I consider the composition, the color balance and the latent symbolism of the objects that I include.
Lighting is very important, too. I am always thinking of the natural light evident in the moody 16th century Dutch still lifes when I light my photos.
You live surrounded by nature. Does it help your creative process?
Absolutely. I’ve wanted to live in this environment for many years and finally, upon retirement from teaching, we moved to the Hill Country. It calms and excites me constantly to discover the amazing things I can find in nature.
What San Antonio galleries are your favorites to visit or to exhibit?
Of course, the McNay, SAMA, UTSA and Presa House and Freight. I am still very connected to K Space Contemporary and the Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi, after teaching in Corpus Christi for 38 years.
Please add anything that you consider important.
I currently have an exhibition at K Space Contemporary, titled “A Grave Affair.” It consists of photos taken at the Day of the Dead celebrations in Oaxaca and environs in 2001 and 2003. I also have a large painted photograph in a collectors’ exhibition at the Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi.
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MBAW offices and Gallery, 23705 Frontage Rd. #101, 78257; By appointment between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.’ 210-464-1534; https://musicalbridges.org; The other two artists in the show are Robert Michaelson and Kyle Peterson.