Date: Fri 01-Nov-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: C

Location: A11

Quick Words:

Barkman-watercolor-Concourse

Full Text:

(feature on watercolorist Pat Barkman, 11/1/96)

No Longer A Communications Educator, Pat Barkman Now Speaks With Her Art

(with photos, dropquotes)

BY SHANNON HICKS

The view through the living room window of Patricia Barkman's home in Newtown

is enough to inspire anyone to become an artist.

Through the window facing the back lawn, one sees a number of gardens, a

beautiful deck to the side of the window - which leads from the home's

mudroom, overlooks the backyard and gives a bird's-eye view over Pat's

thriving herb garden - and a view towards woods that look as though a person

could easily get lost in them. There is even a porch swing, hung from two

trees to the side of the yard, near the edge of the forest.

It is a romantic view, and grand view... something a person would be inspired

by.

But Pat Barkman, a retired college teacher turned watercolor artist, does not

need her backyard as inspiration (although it has found its way into one or

two of her watercolor paintings...). She has another inspiration from which to

draw upon.

Pat Barkman's latest inspiration are the Bowron Lakes, a wet belt region of

British Columbia, about 400 miles north of Vancouver. A native of Canada, Pat

draws upon childhood memories, photographs and trips to one of her favorite

places in the world for many works that adorn her home, especially the living

room - the room into which visitors are welcomed when visiting the Barkman

home near the center of Newtown.

She also finds inspiration in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, as well as

the Adirondacks, a mountain range in northeast New York State. While her forte

is certainly in landscapes, Pat also likes to dot around with abstracts from

time to time.

For the next month, the watercolors of Pat Barkman - many of which are scenes

from Connecticut - will be on view in the upper concourse of the Legislative

Office Building in Hartford. The concourse is a hallway that runs under I-84,

connecting the Legislative Office Building and the Capitol Building. It offers

150 linear feet of wall space with which Pat will fill for the public November

1. The exhibit will remain on view through November 30.

"I have had fun painting, working with art in some form, all my life," Pat

said recently.

However, having an enjoyable hobby, and having an enjoyable hobby one can make

a living from, are two very distinct differences many people are familiar

with. While Pat was always able to enjoy expressing herself with her artworks,

she never felt comfortable enough to pursue "art" as a career until nearly a

decade ago, once she retired from her career as an educator in technical

communications.

"I wanted to [pursue art full-time]," she said, "but I didn't have the

confidence to do so..." until Jim Timmons, then-head of the art department at

Western CT State University in Danbury, gave her the suggestion and strong

encouragement to give it a go.

With that, and at the urging of her husband, Leon, and some friends, Pat

Barkman did just that. For the last ten years, she has been an artist by

trade, and the smile that shines from her eyes, along with the one that

welcomes all visitors to her home, is there for keeps.

Pat enjoys her work - very much! -and she enjoys sharing her talent with

others. She presents at least one solo show annually. She has won five

different awards so far this year.

Her first show was at Newtown's C.H. Booth Library in the late 1980s; the

first show with an opening reception was at the Southbury Public Library

shortly thereafter.

"I try real hard at selling and getting into galleries," she said.

It is important to Pat that she and develop her own style in creating

watercolors. For that reason, she has taken very few workshops, nor has she

taken formal classes to cultivate her talent. There was one workshop with

Goshen artist Frank Frederico, formerly of Litchfield, and another with Nita

Engle. Engle must have cast quite a spell on Pat; the Newtown artist even

purchased one of the instructor's videos.

For someone looking to make a mark of her own, the video purchase says much

about the impression Engle made. However, it does not mean Pat emulates

Engle's style. She simply respects it, and learned from it.

Pat does not follow conventional watercolor styles when she paints, which make

her beautiful paintings even that much more appealing.

"It is a big thing for me to try to develop a style of my own without having

too much influence."

To begin a work, Pat makes an initial sketch on watercolor paper of the view

she will be painting. Next she uses liquid frisket, a plastic substance which

acts as a relief - paint will not stick to the frisket when Pat puts a wash

over it - in areas where she will depict reflections, such as lake scenes, or

areas with white backgrounds. When the frisket dries, colors will wash over it

without marking the paper. The frisket is then peeled off the paper to reveal

the white areas.

Pat pours pools of the frisket directly onto her paper, then paints it into

the paper, a very irregular move. Most artists will use the frisket - also

called maskoid, or masking fluid, or relief fluid - differently to achieve the

relief effect.

Pat generally uses 140-pound watercolor paper; she has used up to 200- to

300-pound paper in the past. The pound weight refers to the amount of rag that

has gone into the paper. The higher the pound, the heavier and sturdier the

paper is.

"It has a bit of a tooth to it." The chief difference, Pat explained, is that

140-pound paper needs to be stretched before painting onto it.

It was during a lunch date with a friend of hers earlier this year that the

idea of having a show in Hartford first came up. Pat was lunching with Shirley

Ferris, Connecticut's commissioner of agriculture and a Newtown resident

herself, when Mrs Ferris mentioned she had noticed the art shows in the

concourse area and encouraged Pat to make some phone calls.

Mrs Ferris has a huge Barkman landscape in her office.

"I look at it very often and it helps me understand what I'm here for... to

keep agriculture in the state," Mrs Ferris said. "It's a very inspiring piece,

very soothing to look at."

Carol Hamilton is the senior executive assistant in the Office of Legislative

Management in Hartford. In dealing with anyone who uses the building, and also

handling the building's maintenance, upkeep and repair, her office is "the

business office of the General Assembly," she says.

It is also through Ms Hamilton that the decision is made concerning the

exhibits in the upper concourse. From children's groups to private artists,

state agencies to art leagues, the material and background of those creating

the works presented in the upper concourse "really run the gamut," Ms Hamilton

said this week.

The concourse area is already booked through the fall of 1997, with a few

months reserved into 1998. To request the space, artists must write to Ms

Hamilton and submit photos of their work for review.

"We have very few guidelines," she said. "One of them is that the artwork must

be suitable for public viewing of all ages, including school children on

tours." Which means no sexually explicit pieces, she added.

"It's really a fairly simple process," she said. "And it has become very

popular.

"Many people, once they have [shown here], want to show again." While anyone

can reserve the space, and many groups have already been promised the

month-long show for a run of years, Mrs Hamilton says none of the groups or

private artists are allowed to show more than once a year.

Artists hang their own shows at the Concourse. Once they have a month

reserved, they are allowed to go into the gallery area on the first of the

month to hang their show. Because the Office of Legislative Management does

not want each artist to be putting new nail or tack holes into the walls every

month, it has its own hanging system each artist adapts to. Artists are also

responsible for removing their show by noon on the last day of the month.

On Friday, Pat will be driving to Hartford to hang her show, which she has

decided to call "Connecticut Beauty in Mixed Media."

For a woman who calls working in art "a great pleasure," having an art show in

the state capitol, open to the public for one month, must be a grand feeling.

That smile Pat always seems to be wearing is probably broader than ever.