Mixed Media Abstract Artist
Barbara Kaempf-Matkowski
Each day I cannot wait to get into my studio to start putting paint on a surface, building up, sanding down, layering, revealing, covering over. Throughout this push-pull of adding and subtracting, I’m constantly unsatisfied with a piece, covering up areas I don’t like, windowing out areas I do, layering, adding glazes, scribbling with a pencil or oil stick, often not knowing what I’m doing or wanting.
I just keep affecting the surface each day, and then something always begins to work and it starts to be fun. Shadows or textures of earlier marks show through, or a glaze over scratches is interesting, and I’m suddenly happy. As always, it’s the unsatisfied covering up, layering and random ’fixing’ that ends up to be the very aspect that makes me most happy with a piece.
- Studied chemistry at Lewis and Clark College and clinical dietetics at Oregon State University; Bachelor of Science
- Employed by an analytical lab, Portland, 1981 through 1984
- Flight attendant with TWA and Delta Airlines, 1985 through 1998
- Property Manager for McKenzie Taylor Homes, Longview WA, 1998 through 2006
- Began art sales in 2002
- Fine Arts Instructor, Michaels Stores, Longview WA, 2012 to 2015
