Because Barbara constructs her animals out of bric a brac, she has a vast amount of bits and pieces stored away, “I’ve got one enormous cupboard that’s next to the textile one that’s full of all my bits and pieces,” she says, “I’d like to think they were ordered, like keys are in one box, cutlery is in another costume jewellery is in another, locks are in another, but that doesn’t always happen because I’m not a tidy person.”
Having her huge bits and pieces cupboard can be a boon for Barbara. “When I’m working, I just go to my cupboard,” she says, “I get some of those boxes, and then I get lovely surprises where I think ‘, Oh gosh, there’s that; I remember that there’s a bolt, that’s going to be just right for this place.’”
They exude life
Barbara mostly sculpts animals she has a connection with, “Most of the animals I create tend to be domesticated ones or European animals that I feel I have an affinity to,” she says. “I had a German mother who and we read fairy tales all the time. There’s always a bad wolf or a cunning fox or something in all of those, and that’s in my psyche.”
Outside of fairy tales, animals have always been a part of Barbara’s life, “I’ve always had animals,” she says, “They embody the simpleness of life to me. I have done some sculptures of the human form, but it just doesn’t interest me as much. I love when I go to the park and see a dog running. They live in the moment. I think that’s what I like about animals. They live in the moment, they don’t have a past or history or anything. They’re enjoying life as it is now or not enjoying it, depending on what’s happening. And I like that immediacy of animals and even standing still; they exude life.”
Alive v dead
Barbara had always preferred live animals to the taxidermy specimens found in museums, “We went to the zoo a lot when our daughter was little,” she says, “we’d go every weekend to the zoo, and I’d make up stories. I’d be chatting with our little daughter and making up stories about them. And they’d have little voices and things as you do with a child. But it’s always the live animals.”
All the same, the similarity to taxidermy in Barbara’s work is evident, and it is something she has explored, “About five years ago,” Barbra says, “there was an opportunity to do cheap lessons away to do taxidermy, and I thought, ‘well, I’m interested’. I’m always interested in things.”
Taxidermy was not to Barbrara’s taste! “The poor little white mice bred for feeding to raptors and everything,” she says, “It was a fascinating process. I made it, so it was curled up sleeping; my daughter also made one that was a little musketeer. Afterwards, I just felt disquiet about it, and I had it there, and it felt wrong to me. It felt a disservice to the creature, so I actually buried it in the garden. It just didn’t seem right somehow. But equally, some artists like Polly Morgan, an exemplary fantastic taxidermist who makes political statements with it and I really do like that.”