Barbara Starkey

Paintings

Old and New World mythological themes combining representational and metaphorical images in each work. Major works are oil on linen ... also work in all media on paper.

After living in New Mexico for 25 years and studying the Native American and Hispanic cultures, it ultimately led me back to my own European ancestral roots. Realizing the similarity of Old and New World imagery became a major turning point in my life and in my work. As a result, I did my first series of paintings about Celtic goddesses, legends, and traditions incorporating mythological and cosmological concepts and values which combines representational and metaphorical images in each work. As I began working in clay, as well as painting, I incorporated these same values, designs, and concepts into my pottery.

Effectively, the representation of what is Sacred has been consistent throughout the history of the human race whether it is Old European, Egyptian, Celtic, Native American, or Australian Aborigine.....sacred beings and animals; kinship within all parts of the creation; universal design elements expressing reverence for the source of that creation; the divine origins of families and clans, pottery, metallurgy, the healing arts, agriculture, weaving, alchemy and more.....symbolism that unifies humankind through a common language of spirit and content.....whether it is the footprints of the goddess Brigid to the Irish people, Spider Woman in the Navajo culture, or the Welsh goddess Rhiannon who was associated with the proto-Celtic European horse-goddess, Epona.

In the paintings, I utilize forms from the physical world to represent spiritual realities. The borders in my work are the windows into the spiritual worlds and represent the interpenetration of all the worlds of God as well. A recurrent theme is the night sky which is not only a symbol of the inner journey but also a reference to the Holy Dark from which all creation originates. The color in my work appears more intense than the material world because the spiritual realities are more real.

Micaceous Clay

Cookware and tableware ...

Utilizes traditional Jicarilla Apache pottery making methods - from collecting the clay body to hand construction, sanding and polishing, and firing in an open bonfire outside.

Wherever there are volcanoes, there is micaceous clay.....one such place is in northern New Mexico where I was privileged to go in March 1999 for the first time to dig clay...it had snowed a few days before and required 4-wheel drive vehicles to drive several miles up a mountain where the micaceous clay can be found.

The micaceous clay is often 10 - 14 inches below the top soil, and must be dug out with pick axes and shovels. Normally requiring a great deal of physical strength to get the clay out of the ground, it was somewhat easier in March since the ground was still quite wet from the melting snow cover. After filling many buckets with this unique mica clay, I began to really appreciate what an astonishing and extensive process it is to actually produce pottery.

Upon reaching home with the buckets, I filled each one with water and left them for a few days to soak. The first step in the cleaning process is screening the clay to remove all rocks, roots, and large pieces of mica. It is kept diluted with water so that it can be poured through a fine mesh screen into other buckets. The mica clay sinks to the bottom of the container, and eventually the water is scooped out carefully so not to disturb the settled clay. With the excess water removed, the clay can be poured into a sheet on the ground to finish draining. Depending on the amount of clay being processed, it can take two or three days for enough water to evaporate for the clay to be workable. When the clay is ready to work, it is stored in heavy duty plastic bags.

Each piece of cookware or pottery is hand constructed according to traditional coil and scrape methods.....specifically the traditional Jicarilla Apache method with the coils placed on the inside. Once a piece is constructed and dried, it is water-scraped to remove any excess clay and ridges. The piece is wet all over with a sponge and scraped as smooth as possible with a thin steel rib. Once it dries completely, it is then vigorously sanded with a piece of sandstone/limestone and successive grades of sand paper to attain the smoothest possible surface. If the piece is going to be carved, it is done before polishing.

"Slip" is a water thinned mixture of clay and applying 3 or 4 coats of slip on a piece is the final part of the process which enables it to be hand polished. Polishing stones are a very hard grade of quartz. The polishing is done rapidly and very lightly at first and then with increasing pressure.....my instructor said, "Polish it until your arm falls off!!!" That is the only way to describe it. No other types of glaze are used.

The firing process is the final and probably the most intense phase. It is both extremely exciting and almost terrifying at the same time....will each piece "live" through the fire? It is built outside on the ground similar to a bonfire. The pieces are stacked up and the wood stacked around them to allow some ventilation. Every piece of the mica clay is unique since the fireclouds that range from grey to a lush, cool black are contingent upon where the pieces are in the fire. If one desires that the pieces turn all black, they are placed in a reduction fire immediately after the wood fire. The polish holds through the entire firing process.

The micaceous clay is fired at 1400 - 1600 degrees Fahrenheit, and makes excellent as well as beautiful cookware. It can be used in an oven or on top of the stove (gas or electric). Because mica is an insulator, the handles and rims do not retain a great deal of heat. The pieces can be taken, therefore, from the stove directly to the table for serving. The micaceous clay pieces can be used for baking beans, casseroles, desserts; for soups, stews, and skillets on top of the stove; and as salad or fruit bowls, condiment dishes, coffee mugs, cereal bowls, and creamers.......if you can think of it, it can probably be made with micaceous clay !

I have been told that the micaceous pots can be put in the microwave; however, after what I go through to make a piece, I would NEVER put a piece in the microwave or in a dishwasher.....always hand wash cooking or serving pieces, and wipe down with a thin coat of oil after washing and drying them.

Although the micaceous clay pieces may be similar in style......a bean pot is a bean pot....every piece is original and one of a kind ......it may have carved designs, there will be slight variations in size and shape, and always the fireclouds on every piece are unique.

The micaceous clay is incomparable for decorative art pieces.....also for ceremonial purposes, such as sage pots, medicine bowls and pipes.......no matter what style or purpose, each piece is a treasure..............

Production of the black and red earthenware pottery is similar to the mica process. Earthenware, however, requires the addition of temper to strengthen it. Volcanic ash is collected, pulverized into a powder form, and then mixed with the processed clay.

Once the clay is ready to work, the pots are handcoiled according to the Pueblo method of adding the new coils on the outside. After drying and sanding, several layers of slip are applied to the entire piece at which point it can be polished with quartz stones. Polishing the black-on-black or the red-on-red is more difficult than polishing the micaceous clay. A very humid environment must be maintained in the polishing area to slow down the drying time.....if the slip dries too fast, it cannot be polished at all. If that happens, the piece has to be sanded down and re-done.
If a pot is going to have carved designs, the carving must be done while it is still wet but leather hard. If a pot is going to have the matt designs, they are painted on after the piece is polished. This is very difficult and risky.....one slip with the brush or a random speck of liquid on the pot, and it must be sanded down and re-polished.

In an earthenware firing, the pieces cannot touch each other. Anything that touches the black-on-black during the firing will destroy the polish, and therefore, the piece.

Historically many cultures have produced burnished pottery of different colors and types of clay. Although I utilize the pueblo methods of construction and firing, the designs I use are universal, with an emphasis on Old European and Celtic designs, both of which were matriarchal cultures

Judaica Ritual Art

Seder plates, Havdalah sets, Kiddush Cups, Mizrahs, Mezuzot, Spice Boxes, Shabat candlesticks, and Menorrahs.

PRIOR GALLERIES

Moondance Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Simply Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Park Shore Gallery, Naples, Florida
Creative Endeavors, Dallas, Texas
Milagro de Taos, Taos, New Mexico
Edith Lambert Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Robert Wright Fine Arts, Escondido, California
The Turtle’s Nest, Milford, New Hampshire

PARTIAL COLLECTORS’ LIST

Diana Bryer, Santa Cruz, New Mexico
Peter So Happy, Taos Pueblo, Taos, New Mexico
John and Diane Dudley, Dallas, Texas
Robert Pictou, Mi’kmaq Nation, Milford, New Hampshire
Karen Simmons, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Leo Trujillo, Espanola, New Mexico
Jo Sage, Mountainair, New Mexico
Nancy Gordy, Austin, Texas

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