Barbara Kronlins

Barbara Kronlin‘s studio is full of boxes, boxes filled with old newspapers, letters, calendars, magazines, paperback covers, cast-off papers, found lists, to name just a bit, and also it is full of piles, piles of old textbooks, torn pages, architectural drawings, printed signs, maps, sewing patters, children’s books, and countless more that she’s accumulated for many years, and that inspire her. Most are old and weathered, worn and written on, discarded. She begins to work by rummaging and dumping a box or two, a lot of back and forth gathering scraps to be scribbled on or painted, cut, arranged and rearranged until a motif appears. She doesn’t overthink. Then the cutting becomes more refined and what she wants to reveal more distinct. Next is the arduous, time-consuming(!) task of gluing, bringing these random pieces to life in another way, directed from within. Recurring themes are of childhood experience and road travel, using materials that bring the distant closer.