Barbara Bean

Barbara Bean may also be reached by phone at 207-729-8661

I am an artist who earned a living as a social worker for approximately 35 years before settling in Brunswick and Georgetown, Maine.  My husband, a biologist and teacher, taught me to camp, hike and to love the Maine woods, bogs and marshes. Now from my home studio I draw the birds and plants at my windows and bring material from our gardens to printmaking classes at MECA. Together we explored the Saco Heath,  Bangor Bog and  Quoddy Head  until I am comfortable enough to use pen and ink with washes and reeds to make a drawing I call “Reservations for Six."  Now thirty drawings with ink and prismacolor are products of our three year exploration of land and literature. 

During this time in Maine I also have made artist books, collages and assemblages which I have shown at the Harlow Gallery, Riverarts in Damariscotta, Georgetown Historical, Old Post Office Gallery in Georgetown, Curtis and Topsam Public Libraries, Mc Laughlin Gardens in South Paris, MECA, UMA, USM and Aucocisco Gallery in Portland. 

Gardens and bogs continue to be a source of constant amazement, amusement and learning. Working in many media simultaneously continues to stimulate and make me aware of how much transfer there is from one work to another regardless of its dimension or content.  Whether manipulating paper, paint, wood, or metal, I think my works begin to speak to one another and tell a story of a journey that is still in progress. In the Jar Project which appeared in a Portland Gallery, I placed Einstein in a bottle with dice, pick up sticks and his famous formula e=mc2.  While doing it I realized that Einstein's theory of relativity came as a result of this genius permitting himself the luxury of play.  His art and ours are similar in that our work is both absorbing and boundless and lead us to find solutions we had not foreseen and are amazed that we ever complete.  

See an interview with Barbara on the NEWS page of this website.