Overview

In Contradictions - Bringing The Past Forward, artist Barbara Gothard visually interprets and honors the legacy of twenty-three African-American Homesteaders, who settled in the Eastern Mojave Desert in 1910, in the context of her own lived experience as an African American female artist living in the desert, share their stories via public presentations. The research-based multimedia Arts + Humanities installation first exhibited at the San Bernardino County Museum in 2021, consists of twenty-three digital paintings created with the software ProCreate on her iPad, which she began exploring in 2017 as an extension of her oil painting practice. These paintings, printed on Senso raw linen canvas with a process she pioneered in the desert in 2020 in conjunction with Stephen Baumbach Photography are combined with an installation of the replica of the 1910 tract map of the Lanfair Valley area, a story map created by ESRI staff Doug Morgenthaler and Jim Herries, images of related archival documents, and Lanfair/Dunbar archeological objects loaned by Mojave National Preserve. Gothard's visual illumination of the lives of these homesteaders is believed to be the first and the only time in more than 100 years that their stories are portrayed in a visual format. The artworks inform a series of artist talks and community discussions hosted by public and nonprofit organizations and on social media. Visual interpretation honoring the legacy of twenty-three African American homesteaders who settled in the far Eastern Mojave Desert in 1910 Contradictions - Bringing The Past forward.

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9781916770515

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Barbara Gothard, PhD is an African American contemporary artist dwelling in Palm Springs whose creative practice is focused on contradictions and the challenge/promise of change. She has been a productive artist for 30+ years exhibiting locally, nationally and internationally and also enjoyed a high-level corporate career. Having weathered her own dramatic personal changes as an indirect catalyst to significant professional changes, she evolved from one transition to another on her non-linear career path. Gothard, who always wanted to be an artist and dreamed of traveling, grew up in a landlocked town in Illinois and was fortunate that her mother's recognition of this interest resulted in Saturday art classes starting in the second grade. From modest roots to traditional art training - Mount Mary University (BA Art, Education), Long Island University (MA Art, Education), Michigan State University (Ph.D. Educational Administration), art educator, to global business and residencies, she is compelled to translate these obstacles-as-opportunities into the unfolding mysteries of complex spatial relationships in her artwork. Gothard is also a Writer/Contributor for arts magazines, engaged as a local and international public speaker and has a long-term commitment to community service. She is a Member of the Board of Trustees of Palm Springs Art Museum and an Emeritus Member of the board of the Artists Council and former President.

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