Collection: Barbara Schmidt

Barbara Schmidt exhibited at the John Mann Gallery EXPRESSION 2024 exhibition.

Barbara Schmidt was born in Minot, North Dakota into a Mennonite Minister’s family. Her childhood, which was often compared to that of a military family, consisted of a fair number of family moves to various cities and towns in North Dakota, Manitoba and eventually Ontario where she resides today.

Barbara’s medium of choice is acrylic paint. She is inspired by images that evoke a certain power in nature, expression, structure, or movement and which are not always beautiful. In her creative process she has no desire or expectation for the end result to replicate the image but to capture its powerful essence. Barbara’s style is representational yet applies an abstract minimalistic approach which utilizes fewer and more solid colours applied in shapes only. It is a sequential process which she believes requires her to have an underlying faith in what she sees in order to translate the essence of her subject onto canvas. Her hope is that her art will inspire others to find the power within themselves and the methodology to venture past their fears and begin.