Along the Line
2000
Color monotype on
BFK Rives (White) paper
Image: 7" W  x 12" H

Untitled color monotype
by Carl van Buskirk
(Barbara's Grandfather)
Circa 1920s

In the Shelter of a Parasol
2008
Color monotype on
BFK Rives (Tan) paper
Image: 11" W x 17" H

Although she is best known as an artist with extensive experience in the making of hand printed monotypes, Barbara van Buskirk's artistic repertoire includes formal education and studio time focused on a variety of artistic media, including drawing, watercolor, silk screening, oil painting and collage, as well as other creative forms such as graphic design, writing, cooking, crocheting, knitting, and flower arranging. All of these interests share a common thread: Barbara van Buskirk enjoys making things. She loves the process and, no matter the medium or tools she's using to create, she enjoys hands-on searching and the actual doing of experimentation to discover whatever new and different ways in which she can surprise and, in turn, delight her heart and nurture the art spirit.

Barbara van Buskirk was raised the middle daughter in a small, close-knit family in the small town of Mars, Pennsylvania, which is located about 35 miles north of Pittsburgh. She has lived and worked in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Florida and New Mexico. Her most influential and meaningful life experiences include growing up in a family which included the doing and appreciation of reading, writing, music, singing, dancing, and theater in their every day life; summer vacations from the age of 5 and four summers working as a waitress in Cape May, a small historic gem on the (New) Jersey Shore; living and working for nine years in Boston and Gloucester, Massachusetts; traveling for nearly a year and living for two more years aboard de Nada, a 31' Southern Cross sailboat, with her now husband Dave Panek; and learning how to make monotypes in a workshop she took in Albuquerque in 2000.

Her work has been exhibited in a number of national and international juried shows, and has had continuous gallery representation since 2000. Her monotypes are in public and private collections.

Original monotypes, watercolors, collages, and drawings by Barbara van Buskirk are available at The Fisher Gallery in Albuquerque, NM.