by Stew Mosberg                  

The art created by Barbara Edidin is a visual feast: the colors are vivid, the work is precise and fascinating to experience. A Chicagoan by birth, Edidin moved to Durango in 2003 from Arizona, where – in addition to showing at galleries in New York and Massachusetts – she is also represented. She and her artwork also have been featured in American and French magazines and can be found on a multitude of art web sites.

 

While attending Kansas City Art Institute, Northern Arizona University and Arizona State University, the artist became interested in ceramics and fiber arts, particularly quilt making. Eventually she realized sewing was not her first love, and that unexpected awareness led her to refocus on drawing.

 

Through the process of sketching out quilt patterns, Edidin became adept at composition, but more importantly, learned to appreciate the use of colored pencils. She began drawing live models surrounded by complicated settings but eventually found the compositions too complex. As such, she began eliminating the figures so she could concentrate more on rendering texture and reflected light: the drape and pattern of fabric; the intricacy of lace; the delicacy of a floral arrangement. Her natural aptitude for design and color transferred well to these meticulously rendered still-life drawings.

 

Challenged by capturing metal, glass and fabric surfaces, she was inspired to explore the juxtaposition of objects, much the way Northern Renaissance artists had done. Edidin’s fascination with realism was equally inspired by the watercolors of Indiana-born artist John Stuart Ingle (1933-2010). In the process of studying these approaches, Edidin discovered there was a genuine niche for her laboriously crafted color-pencil still lifes in the art world. She was so successful that she continued to create them for more than 20 years.

Although her audience is frequently awestruck by the exactness of her trompe l’oeil method, the artist wants people to look beyond the technique and feel something that moves them, “Something beneath the surface, something of myself; (it’s) my way of sharing how I look at things,” Edidin suggests.

After two decades of creating such serious, precise imagery, Edidn took five years off. Yet, during that time, art was never far from her mind, and once she was re-energized, the passion to create was rekindled.

What came next was a series of whimsical, decorative colored-pencil panels that incorporated cheerful, capricious drawings of birds, fish, horses, dogs and cats, often engaged in human activities. Not surprisingly, the outside edges of each drawing incorporate quilt-like patterns and borders.

 

Explaining the departure from her still lifes, Edidin says the newer illustrations are intended to bring a smile and maybe even a laugh to the viewer; and they do. Arizona artist Anne Coe’s paintings, particularly those with animals exhibiting human attributes, are another great inspiration for Edidin, who counts Coe as one of her dearest friends.

Reminiscent of folk art, that series of panels, entitled “B.Kay,” next motivated her to employ a similar style on utilitarian objects such as dishes, bowls and furniture. For fodder, she looked at everyday things in her Third Avenue Victorian home, decorative accessories as well as delightful objets d’ art. Ever evolving as an artist, Edidin’s most recent creations are sumptuously wrapped boxes and clocks that evoke another time and place and have been exhibited and sold at the Durango Arts Center. They feature exotic papers and reproductions of masterpieces from around the world.

The functionality of these most recent pieces has taken Edidin into yet another direction. Her love of music and string instruments finds her literally creating banjos and ukuleles. Similar to how she has utilized old cigar boxes and clock faces as the basis for her other art forms, Edidin is now using cookie tins, hand drums or tambourines to form the body of the instrument and then adds musically accurate, headstock, neck and frets that can actually be played. To these beautifully crafted instruments, she then affixes her visually alluring patterned papers.
Like her all her art, the instruments are a labor of love, and it is apparent when holding them or scrutinizing the surface, that they are meant to give pleasure musically and visually. Delighting in the craftsmanship of her work is just one of many facets a viewer and collector will take away from Edidin’s talent, to which she admits, “I am compulsive about the craftsmanship.” That quality is one of the first things a viewer notices when experiencing her artwork.

Although her website is in the process of being updated, people interested in seeing an array of her work can still go to www.barbaraedidin.com.