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oil Patricia Barrow Captures Light and Motion By Kathryn Manis
ALLISON POTTER
The medium’s potential to capture and manipulate light is another big part of its appeal.
Emphasis on light variation in Barrow’s oeuvre can be seen in her “Swimmers” series, which she started while living in Florida. The artist
depicts swimmers from different angles, often posed with small colored hoops, as they move through the water.
These figures originally were inspired by small dolls owned by a neighbor, and later based on friends enlisted to pose. All of the paint-ings
in this series play with the reflective and kinetic capacity of bright light moving through water.
Seascape II, 30 x 40 inches, oil on canvas. Patricia Barrow’s studio was once occupied by Elisabeth Chant, a Wilmington landscape
painter from the early 20th century.
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