Art & Galleries
Artist spotlight: painter and sculptor Barbara Meikle
Barbara Meikle is a self-professed late bloomer. Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, she graduated from the University of Denver in 1984 with a degree in painting and printmaking, but she didn't start showing her work until 2001.
Ranch Hand, oil on canvas
"It takes a lot of courage [to be an artist]," Meikle says. "I had to learn to let go and do it. It's not easy, but it's worth it."
Today, she owns her own gallery with artist Aleta Pippin and paints prolifically from her home studio in Tesuque, New Mexico, a few miles north of Santa Fe. Meikle describes her style as expressive impressionism. She began with watercolors but soon found that she wanted to work the surface of the canvas. She now paints in oil using an array of techniques in order to get the brilliant colors and textures she wants.
Some of her oil paintings have become nearly three dimensional, leading her to branch out into her latest medium — bronze sculpture. "It was a natural progression, but it took years," she says. "By the time I'm 80 I think I'll be a completely abstract painter."
Although she used to paint outside in plein air, she now finds that her best work happens in the studio, where she is able to re-create the experience of a place or an animal while she paints or sculpts.
An animal lover since childhood — she drew her first horse at the age of two — Meikle is inspired by her own animals and those that live in northern New Mexico. She has also found a way to thank her equine muses: Meikle created a book of donkey images called The Donkey Diaries, part of the proceeds of which go to support Longhopes, a donkey shelter in Bennett, Colorado.
"It's wonderful to give back, especially for creatures who can't ask for help," says Meikle.
—Leanne Haase Goebel
Galleries
• Adagio Galleries, Palm Desert, California, 800.288.2230, www.adagiogalleries.com
• Horizon Fine Art, Jackson, Wyoming, 307.739.1540, www.horizonfineartgallery.com
• Pippin Meikle Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 505.992.0400, www.pippinmeiklefineart.com
• Schilling Studio Gallery, Telluride, Colorado, 970.728.1345, www.schillingstudiogallery.com
Issue: October 2009
