Bright Skies and Waterlilies…. Wonderful soaking rains in Harare have filled our dams at Borrowdale Brooke Estate and rejuvenated our gardens. A New Year and New Hope.
Borrowdale Brooke is filling our dams!
Bright skies behind palms start our day as we walk …
Kelli – my daily delightful daughterly inspiration
And the sun peeps through …
Early morning walks are a lesson in Reflections…this sky and water symphony on our walk remind me of Dulux Colour of The Year for 2022, which I have fallen in love with, called “Bright Skies”!…..and which is inspiration for the wall murals that a group of artists will create at the cancer centre in Harare…
Reflections
Dreamy, delicious; Dulux “Bright Skies” radiates hope, calm and healing….
As we walk through Borrowdale Brooke, bright skies frame the flowers that I photograph, in perfect balance and harmony…
Datura, a moonflower, deadly poisonous but exquisite against a ‘bright sky’…..!
and a hymn of sunlit tree silhouettes is ours…an ode to the rising sun….
Acacia trees, Sunlit silhouettes
From the sun side of these very same trees, (at the entrance to the Brooke Estate), these glowing golden beauties are framed by a summer sky..
Acacia trees in Borrowdale Brooke Estate
Beauty glows in every blade of grass at our feet
Green green green
The ‘bright skies’ above us, the green wetland around, and a perfect pink rose, dewy in the early morning light, brings to mind our latest project-
Lin Barrie photo, early morning rose… Think Pink!
….a large group of artists and cancer survivors are working with Debi Jeans of The Pink Project, and Sophie Banks, Interior designer, to paint the walls of the Cancer Association Centre in Harare… ably helped by Junior and Linda of the cancer centre.
As we walk, looking for waterlilies in the dams of the Brooke as inspiration for the massage room at the Cancer Centre which is our allocated room to decorate, I think back to my memories of last years rainy season in Gonarezhou National Park, (my ‘other home’)…the mellow blue of Tembweharta Pan and the multitudinous white waterlilies which were food for my soul… bright skies indeed..
Lin Barrie photo, Gonarezhou, the mellow blue of Tembweharta Pan and white waterlilies
Then, we find them – Waterlilies in a Brooke dam, glowing in the early morning light…
Lin Barrie photo, “Waterlilies in the Brooke”
So I will be in Harare with Kelli for a few weeks helping her and talented Rutendo Karikoga to paint the massage room mural at the Cancer Centre. Starting on Monday, we will develop a water lily and dragonfly theme …
Rutendo’s paintings are accomplished and deeply evocative – abstract expressions of emotion so powerful that I can not wait to see her in action.
Rutendo Karikoga, abstract
Kelli’s paintings reflect intense nature and mood in a healing process, studied abstractions of emotion… her artworks are maturing, powerful and evolving, and I am so excited to share in what she brings to this project…
Kelli Barker, small work, 20 x 20 cm
Think Pink!
Kelli Barker, “Think Pink”, acrylic on stretched canvas, 50 x 50 cm
Here below is a mood board, to give you a feeling of what Debi, Sophie, Kelli, Ru and I have discussed for the massage room….water, waterlilies and dragonflies. And deeply inspired by Dulux’s “Bright Skies” – a calm and reflective colour of the year, for us to dream into. Thank you, Dulux Zimbabwe, for donating paints and Electrosales for donating the hardware to paint with!
Bear in mind that, since three very individual artists will come together and create something spontaneous, the finished walls and ceiling may not look like this at all, but will certainly reflect our hopes and dreams!
MOOD BOARD
Mmmmm.. thinking dragonflies, those symbols of hope and luck in so many countries myths and beliefs…
My dear friend, Master wire and recycling artist Johnson Zuze, creates creatures with such presence that you can feel their thoughts, and believe you inhabit their world completely – such as this masterful yet whimsical dragonfly which alights in my garden – I want to paint like this- maybe this dragonfly will translate to the walls of the massage room!!
The fantastic beast’s thorax glows with jewel like recycled objects – and Oh …the eyes! Johnson’s visionary use of nespresso pods create large, multifaceted, compound eyes- so expressive !
Johnson Zuze – dragonfly- Johnson’s visionary use of nespresso pods create large, multifaceted, compound eyes-
And more fabulous inspiration by my friend and master metal worker, James Suraji, whose dragonfly shapes entrance me..and which have great meaning for Rutendo, who is on her own ‘dragonfly journey’
James Suraji dragonfly
Impressionist artist Monet was the ultimate master of water, reflected ‘bright skies’ and waterlilies, so he is a strong inspiration for us…..
Monet, “waterlilies”
The white waterlilies of Tembweharta Pan in Gonarezhou, near Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge , (seen also in my photograph in the mood board)….
Lin Barrie photograph, Tembweharta Pan, and lilies… Gonarezhou
Tembweharta waterlilies inspired these large paintings of mine below when camping at Mahove Tented Camp a few years ago. The pans behind that delightful camp on the Runde River were also filled with waterfowl, kingfishers and myriads of these white beauties…
Lin Barrie, “White Waterlilies” (diptych), acrylic on loose canvas, 90 x 130 cm each panel, with Dulux Colour of the Year, “Bright Skies”
So, my own paintings of waterlilies are certainly a stepping off point in my own mind…
Lin Barrie, ”Waterlilies” , acrylic on canvas 94 x 104 cm
But only a stepping off point….I can’t wait to see what Rutendo, Kelli and I actually create on the walls of the massage room, allowing for serendipity, happy accidents, possible wrong turnings, all of which will teach us and lead in the end to the right way…. each day the walls will grow, in probably unexpected ways, and that is the joy of creating.
Rutendo Karikoga, poem ”bright skies”
So, watch this space as the blog grows day by day with our artistic endeavours….!
Hope, Serenity, Love, Family, Grace and Faith, all these we take in part from the old year past, and transition into the new year ahead….
Day by Day all we can do is learn from the tough lessons life throws at us and appreciate the beauty all around us.
So, here’s my painting in celebration of Hope! …. my reflections on taking Flight!
Lin Barrie, “Sunrise and Egrets”, acrylc on stretched canvas, 78 x 165 cm
Lin Barrie, “Sunrise and Egrets”, acrylic on stretched canvas, 78 x 165 cm
This painting arose from a winter walk that Kelli and I took early one morning in 2021, through the misty cold fairways of the Borrowdale Brooke.
dew dripping from Phoenix reclinata leaves
The large dam below the Borrowdale Brooke clubhouse reflected stunning wintery clouds
At the dam, stunning wintery clouds
offering pink refuge to hundreds of egrets…
Egrets at dawn, taking flight….
That view of course sat gentle in my mind for the rest of the year of 2021, until a painting recently happened!……
Detail from “Sunrise and Egrets”
The resident family of Egyptian geese sailed through golden light in front of us as we walked, (who needs a goose that lays a golden egg when we have these beauties every day?!)……,
golden geese!
They had many goslings during winter, and were a delight to watch.
(We counted recently on a walk that they had reared more than half of those to nearly full size…a good job of parenting)!
Waterlilies glowed as we walked on and the sun rose
lending me with more painting inspiration… “Waterlilies”, acrylic on loose canvas, 94 x 104 cm
Lin Barrie, “Waterlilies”, acrylic on loose canvas, 94 x 104 cm
Sunrise, waterbirds and of course waterlilies made up an ethereal start to our day on that winters day, memories to treasure …
…and now the painting hangs in the entrance to the Golf Club
Lycaon pictus; African Wild Dogs in my back garden…. by Lin Barrie
Location: at our bush house, ‘Tsavene’, Save Valley Conservancy, Zimbabwe.
Date: September 28th, 2021
As Clive and I sat quietly watching the orange African sunset, suddenly an impala doe leaped past us, below the high verandah we sat on.
She bounced high in the air, kicking backwards and we knew – something was coming….
At the same time our two resident klipspringers erupted past us on the higher rock, dashing for cover- something was indeed coming! …
A wild dog appeared out of nowhere, a streak of lightening as she leaped high and gripped the impala doe.
The two tumbled together, gold tan and black tumbling in the dust, and immediately two more wild dogs bounded in and, with a brief bellow the impala doe rapidly became their supper.
Lin Barrie, “Wild Dogs Hunting”, mixed media on loose canvas, 106 x 179 cm
Stomach contents stripped out and left on the side, the dogs ate fast; twenty minutes and the three very full dogs had finished all the meat.
Sated, they began halfheartedly chewing bones, and tugging the twisted carcass between them as night started to close in…
Resting between tugging at the bones, they played halfheartedly, too full to move much!
Lin Barrie, “Wild Dogs Playing”, mixed media acrylic and pencil on loose canvas, 106 x 179 cm
After drinking at our waterhole, they faded into the dusk, leaving the impala skeleton and the stomach behind.
Their haunting Hoo calls drifted through the African night as they connected somewhere out there in the African night with the rest of their pack.
Perhaps their full bellies enabled them to regurgitate for any half grown wild dog pups waiting out in the mopani woodland that might have needed a meal!
Lin Barrie, “Three Pups”, acrylic on stretched canvas, 2 x 2 feet
Later that night, as I worked late in my art studio, I heard spotted hyenas outside chatting and mumbling over the carcass- the stomach must have been a real find for them, (especially as we know there is a hyena den near our house that they constantly use, and any pups would have benefitted greatly by the gift of a tasty impala meal…)!
Lin Barrie Spotted Hyena and cub
The next morning our resident band of merry men, the tiny dwarf mongooses, came ranging through, and although the impala skeleton had disappeared, (carried away by the hyenas I presume), I saw many of the dwarf mongooses deliberately foraging amongst the shards of bones and meat fragments.
Very interestingly, shortly thereafter in flew our southern ground hornbill family, two adults and two sub adults, (one younger, one older subadult). They started exploring and soon found the kill zone. Whether they “smelt” the meat fragments left here and there on the ground (?)..,or whether they happened upon the bone and meat titbits by chance, we don’t know, but we watched them deliberately forage around the area. The youngest chick begged constantly and loudly, and I saw an adult pick up a dangling meaty morsel and feed it to the delighted youngster.
Lin Barrie, “Hornbills I”, acrylic on loose canvas, 104 x 179 cm
Eat and be eaten, the fascinating Circle of Life…how many other creatures benefit from a predators kill, how many mothers’ babies get fed…..
Every year we take it down off out mantelpiece where it lives with my wild dog sculpture and the grandchildren decorate it with homegrown ornaments
Our wire sculpture Christmas tree is a baobab the decorators
and out in the veld bloom these spectacular crinum lilies- constant inspiration for my art
Save Valley Conservancy
The fair lilies are chaperoned by the ”Talking Head” – my favourite granite rock outcrop – a monumental stone sculpture with epic presence who looms over all…
Crinums diptych Acrylic on canvas Each is 75 x 50 cm detail from my painting
Travellers and residents of Africa, we are all familiar with the iconic ‘upside down tree”, the iconic baobab of Africa which stands much of the year bare and sculptural against the clear winter sky in Zimbabwe.
Its branches twist and turn in the dry air, despairing roots seeking moisture; the thirsty supplications of a gothic giant princess from a Grimms Fairy tale….
Baobab.
Ponderous leafless princess
with advance guard of thorns
to slow the march of time.
She slumbers
awaiting a kiss
from the first rain.
Lin Barrie 2021
Much as I love sketching and painting this stark dry tracery of branches beneath the cloudless skies of our Zimbabwean lowveld winters, I bless the promise of a wet summer.
Before the rainy season even truly begins, the baobabs pull resources from deep within themselves and spring into fresh green leaves, palm-shaped and joyous in anticipation of cloudy skies as they drop to the ground at our Tsavene house in the Save Valley Conservancy.
Baobabs are my icons, representative of all that I love in the wilderness. Providing sustenance and shelter to a myriad creatures, including man, they are icons of the ecosystems of birth and growth and death all around me.
Their tracery of branches and baubles of buds, flowers and then pods are all the decoration a naturally festive tree needs! Pure and joyous inspiration for my artworks.
Zimbabwean storytellers, dreamers, poets, artists, and craftspeople embrace the baobab.
I collect the wonderful wire baobabs that are sold on the side of the road. These wire trees grace my home and many tourism lodges such as Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge, all year round.
In the festive season we merely add more beaded baubles…….
I see baobab flower imagery everywhere…
On the edge of Gonarezhou National Park, Mahenye Village hut paintings seem to celebrate the shape of this beauty…
I bless the rains down in Africa….
The first smatterings of fat drops that escape their prison of cloud and hit the dry red earth waft an unforgettable scent into the air. Redolent of herbs, bare earth and dusty sunsets, this smell is called ‘petrichor’ and of course can be smelt worldwide with the first rains on thirsty earth, but it seems nowhere more powerful, more nostalgic , more sweet, than here on our own home ground!
A season of rain, renewal and hopefully abundance is our hot hot summertime in Zimbabwe, A time of flowers, butterflies and crops growing in the ground.
I bless the rains down in Africa…
Christmas, the festive holidays, bring families together in normal times, but in these covid times travel is restricted and many families have to rely on photographs, shared memories and messages to be together. Handmade baubles that I have posted to far-flung family grace their Christmas trees worldwide every year.
Our house is a place of memories, of nurturing. Baobab stained glass windows and baobab muesli if you want to eat healthy….
The rains of Africa have brought us a green horizon, a midsummer night’s dream of hope, renewal and future plans… accompanied by Jackie’s handmade fruit mince tarts of course….
A time to celebrate the festive season and the coming New Year…..
New starts, resolutions, and letting go the old….
Africa!
I hear the drums echoing tonight But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation She’s coming in, 12:30 flight The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation I stopped an old man along the way Hoping to find some old forgotten words or ancient melodies He turned to me as if to say “Hurry boy, it’s waiting there for you”It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do I bless the rains down in Africa Gonna take some time to do the things we never had (ooh, ooh)The wild dogs cry out in the night As they grow restless, longing for some solitary company I know that I must do what’s right As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti I seek to cure what’s deep inside, frightened of this thing that I’ve becomeIt’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do I bless the rains down in Africa Gonna take some time to do the things we never had (ooh, ooh)Hurry boy, she’s waiting there for youIt’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do I bless the rains down in Africa I bless the rains down in Africa (I bless the rain) I bless the rains down in Africa I bless the rains down in Africa I bless the rains down in Africa (Gonna take the time) Gonna take some time to do the things we never had (ooh, ooh)
Sketch for Survival is a global art initiative in aid of conservation.
I am thrilled to be a part if it, with my sketches of African wild dogs, Lycaon pictus- an endangered predator which nevertheless is doing well in Zimbabwe within the Save valley Conservancy , Malilangwe and Gonarezhou National Park, plus the other wilderness reserves of Mana, Hwange and Matusadona, in Zimbabwe. African Wildlife Conservation Fund and Painted Dog Conservation do an essential and efficient job within Zimbabwe, of monitoring, intervention snd education outreach for these charismatic wild dogs (aka Painted Wolves, Painted Dogs)
My sketches ”Lycaon pictus I and II”, Monotype, acrylic on paper, each A2 size (420 x 594 mm), will be a part of small capsule collection of 26 26minute sketches that gets displayed at campaign events, as well as the main exhibition in the OXO Gallery in London.
Although the 26 minutes highlights the fact that an elephant is killed every 26 minutes – particularly topical because of their recent reclassification on the IUCN Red List, as many endangered species as possible are represented within the 26 sketches. For the first time we have two weeks at the OXO Gallery in London, together with a virtual tour being made of it once hung so everybody can see it whether they visit or not.
The collection celebrates the beauty and colour of the natural world while also raising awareness about the threats facing it, including those posed by human activity. Original artworks, from oils and watercolours to sketches and street art, feature endangered species and at-risk wild spaces. All artwork donated to Sketch for Survival is available to purchase either through our online fundraising auction in November or in our Affordable Art Gallery. ALL PROCEEDS support our projects.
We organise a number of creative initiatives to highlight the threats facing iconic species and their habitats, while also raising vital funds to help protect them.
We’ve found art and photography to be incredibly effective vehicles for communicating about tough topics ranging from illegal wildlife crime to climate change.
When someone visits one of our exhibitions and learns that every single species or wild space pictured is threatened, and why – usually down to human activity – it has considerable impact.
SKETCH COLLECTION
A central theme of Sketch for Survival is that time is running out. The world must take action to avoid catastrophic consequences. To amplify this message our Sketch for Survival collection includes 26-minute sketches.
In stark contrast to time-consuming, complex studio artworks, the raw beauty of a sketch provides an important visual cue: reminding us that we have limited time to get the job done. Our sketches also remind us of the shocking statistic at the heart of our campaign:
In the wild, an African elephant is lost every 26 minutes on average due to poaching.
This year’s sketch collection includes artwork kindly donated by professional artists and celebrity supporters including Karen Laurence Rowe, Lin Barrie, Jonathan Truss, Alison Nicholls, David Rankin, Hazel Sloan, Levison Wood, Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Stephen Fry.
Lin Barrie, ”Lycaon pictus”, Monotype, acrylic on paper, each A2 size Lin Barrie, ”Lycaon pictus”, Monotype, acrylic on paper, each A2 size
The Sketch for Survival Exhibition Collection is auctioned on 28 November this year following our exhibition tour which includes gallery@oxo on London’s South Bank. ALL PROCEEDS from the sale of art support 21 projects.
I am thrilled! A print of the artwork I donated to Sketch for Survival 2021 is on display at COP26 , in the VIP Lounge Area!
Explorers Against Extinction was selected as one of only 15 organisations worldwide allowed to display in the Blue zone of COP26. Its a huge honour to be part of representing Explorers Against Extinction projects at such a vital event – proof that by coming together for ecosystem and climate campaigns, we can have a collective voice on the biggest stage.
The COP26 VIP lounge display features 5 A0 prints of artworks from this year’s collection.
Along with other invited artists, I was working towards paintings and an installation idea with Helen for the “Freedom” exhibition that she and Derek had planned in September with the support of the Greek Embassy. That exhibition will go ahead, despite the tragic passing of Helen and Derek from our lives, and is an affirmation of her and Derek’s vision for Gallery Delta and a celebration of their artistic legacy…
Helen Lieros
Helen Lieros
Gallery Delta
Foundation for Art and the Humanities
The Board of Trustees and the Gallery Delta Community extend their most sincere condolences to the Lieros and Huggins families, on the passing away of Helen Lieros; loving wife to Derek, Artist, Mentor, Teacher, and Co-Founder of the Gallery Delta. Helen was an inspiration to a great many people, and has been a central pillar within Zimbabwean Visual Arts for over five decades.
Her work is held in the Permanent Collection of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, the Cabinet des Estamps and Centre de la Gravure, Geneva and the Museum of African Arts, Paris, among many others. She was the first recipient of the President’s Award of Honour at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe (1990), and the recipient of a National Arts Merit Award. It is perhaps her murals of the Greek Orthodox Church in Maputo that best represent her life and career. A work that transcends cultural, religious, nationalistic and artistic barriers. A work that celebrates both the tragedy and triumph of humanity, that expresses vividly, the artist’s zeal for life, passion for the arts and her great faith.
Through the foundation of the Gallery Delta, and her work as a teacher, she has impacted the lives of hundreds of people. For some, it has been an understanding and appreciation of the visual arts, for others the discovery of unseen creativity, and others still, the understanding of what it means to be a great teacher in the fullest sense of the word; to have belief in the people around you. She has been both nurturing and influential in the careers of many of Zimbabwe’s most prominent artists, some who have begun their careers at Gallery Delta, and who in some way, will carry forwards her legacy.
We will miss Helen’s passion, energy and force of life more than can be written. She leaves both an impact and a considerable void at this time. Her contribution to the arts will be forever cemented in the Zimbabwean story.
Derek Huggins
Gallery Delta
Foundation for Art and the Humanities
The Board of Trustees and the Gallery Delta Community extend their most sincere condolences to the Huggins and Lieros families, on the passing away of Derek Huggins; loving husband to Helen Lieros, brother to Mary and David. Derek was the Co-Founder of the Gallery Delta and instrumental within the artistic community since the 1970s. His contribution to the arts is immeasurable.Derek is best known for his role of founding and running the Gallery Delta, first at Little Chelsea on Robert Mugabe Road (1975-1991), then at Robert Paul’s Old House, 110 Livingstone Ave, Harare (1991 – 2021). He has been integral in the seminal moments of of some of Zimbabwe’s most well-known artists, and during the long story of Gallery Delta, maintained professional relationships with some of the beacons of Zimbabwean art; Arthur Azvedo, Cosmos Shiridzinomwa, Helen Leiros, Luis Meques, Masimba Hwati and Virginia Chihota, amidst others.Derek’s writing was included in various publications during the 2000s. His own book, a collection of short stories entitled Stained Earth was published in 2004. He authored the extraordinary book Eleni Lierou/Helen Lieros mural paintings: the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel at Maputo, Mozambique, 1996-2000 (2015) with contributions from Jean Luc Duval and Anna Lazou. It is characteristic of Derek, that his efforts were so often directed towards illuminating Helen’s work.Derek was affectionately known around the Gallery as Sekuru. His relationship with his friends and colleagues was personal and caring, he was a man of gentle humour, unparalleled compassion and kindness. He gave of himself entirely, to the arts and more significantly, to the artist; to none more than his beloved wife, Helen. Integrity, honesty and humility are seldom seen as visibly as they were in Derek. We have lost one of the righteous men of the world, but his example to us lives on, as does his legacy to the Visual Arts of Zimbabwe.
National Gallery Zimbabwe Tribute to Helen:
HELEN LIEROS
1940-2021
The Board of Trustees of the National Gallery of Zimbawe, the Directorate and Staff, and the Friends of the Gallery, extend their condolences to the Lieros and Huggins Families; the Board of Trustees of the Gallery Delta Foundation for Art and Humanities, and the Visual Art Industry, upon the loss of an icon.
Sisi Helen, as she was affectionately known, led one of the most illustrious art careers in the land; one that spans across six decades, expressing a life that contributed to the best and the brightest of Zimbabwean art, grounded in the concept of training artists over a long period of time, with Berry Bickle, Greg Shaw, Cosmas Shiridzinomwa, Gina Maxim, Misheck Masamvu, Admire Kamudzengerere and Richar Mudariki being among her mentees.
From her co-founding of the Circle Art Group in reaction to Frank McEwen’s monolithic curation at the National Gallery of Rhodesia; Lieros was evocative in taking Art across cultures and making it accessible to the general population; her poignant murals appearing in the Greek Orthodox Cathedrals of Harare and Maputo; the Social Security Centre and Hurudza House in Harare and many a mural all over the world. The National Gallery houses numerous works from Lieros in its Permanent Collection, and has over the years had the pleasure of the patronage of one of its most beloved Friends in Sisi Helen.
Lieros’ death leaves the Art fraternity in a void.
May Her Soul Rest in Eternal Peace.
Tafadzwa Gwetai tribute to Derek:
Our beloved Sekuru Huggins,
A firm and strong minded Sekuru,
I recall his typewriter clicking away and we would know Sekuru was in his office,
Sekuru was strict in his own way but Helen was always there to persuade him make him see your thoughts and visions ,
A tough man with a huge loving heart,
Just the way a Sekuru should be,
I will forever be grateful for all the critiques that were so brutally honest,
Sekuru Huggins and Helen possessed an honesty that came from a place of love and pure belief in us as artists.
Honesty like that is hard to find.
Together they came into our lives,
And together they left….
Lin:
Her loss is devastating, shattering, but we take such comfort from the fact that her inspiration and artistic legacy will live on stronger and stronger -fly high dear Helen
Art for Arts Sake a video documenting the story of gallery delta:
credits:
Granadilla films
Arthur Azevedo
Gregory Shaw
Fried Lutz (late)
Cosmas Shindzinomwa
Admire Kamudzengere
Gina Maxim
Derek Huggins
1974 epiphany being a policeman detective- he turned to god and by 1975 he established an alleyway gallery in downtown harare… art cafe restaurant jazz music atrium
Derek Joined the national arts foundation and so was able to keep the gallery going as a non profit
Helen Lieros
… created art making, collage, making her own paints
Thakor Patel …
The bush war was Tough times -he worked as a medic and art was therapy for him
1991 Manica road venue was sold…
Robert Paul (died1980) and his house (110 david Livingston), was found to be the new venue for Gallery Delta, through Colette Wiles, his daughter
1991 gallery Delta reinvented itself ! ..by opening with an exhibition of landscapes by Robert Paul!
the Gallery magazine was established 1994-2002
Reflected contemporary Zimbabwean art
Hivos supported the magazine
1990s strong young artists grew from the bat art workshop
So many died young….
the Munich exhibition were successful but difficult due to economy and inflation but 2009 helped the logistics of exporting more than 200 artworks from over 26 artists!
Historically the gallery does not do pretty art, easy art…
Derek says “we are in a sense a poor gallery of poor artists but we survive!
Helen says: “but rich in colour and rich in spirit”!
Helen talks about how “I want the gallery to keep on living! It’s hard…it’s very hard you have to also give new ideas new perspectives a fresh outlook … never give up…”
After 49 years, Derek and Helen established Foundation for Art and the Humanities – the Assets of the gallery were given into a trust.
Derel and Helen stood and promoted the arts steadfastly holding essential qualities and arts very dear to their hearts-
In the video, Fried says- the gallery, the foundation shows “enormous energy and staying power”…
“If it managed to sail through the storms …then I think it has .. energy to go into the future”
What an apt song that is for reflecting the joy and hope of life; flowers, friends, birds and gardens…..,
Spring and Summer in Zimbabwe are upon us…
Yellow clivias in our garden herald Spring
I am feeling so very deeply the loss, the absence in our garden, of our father, our gramps our great grandfather, Arthur Barrie …. He lived with us and was truly our ‘constant gardener’. From babyhood he thought us to nurture, to praise and to notice all living growing things, all seasons ….
Dad in the garden
What a roller coaster few months since my dear dads 90th birthday party at Mulberry Restaurant. We have suddenly lost him- he passed away peacefully in our arms at home in his bed. I, my daughter Kelli, and my Sisi Clare (sister-in-law) were with Dad as he passed away, and we remembered with him, reminisced with him and reminded him with joy of what a legacy he has left all of us family and all of his friends…
Dads favourite – pure white petunias that he planted every year without fail
…. A legacy of love for his neighbours and family, a joy in walking, in art, a passion for owls and all birds, for bush, sunrises, growing gardens, moonphases and flowers!
Dad and the wooden owl sculpture in our garden – the sculptors of this magnificent bird are the talented Zimbabwean Zata brothers
Dad’s hand painted cards and calendars featuring trees and spotted eagle owls were treasured by all of us…
One of Dad’s cards
Dad will be in every flower I paint, every seed I nurture and every rock I touch ….
Linneria from Steph Watson flowering and calling the bees!
My release from sadness is in waking up to birdsong, painting flowers, painting gramp’s flowers, painting friends flowers…
Bright flowers make bright days …
Painting the garden and flowers around me is my balm, my joy in the midst of grief…
.
One of my “Palm Bouquet” paintings … palm frond, ranunculus and sweet peas, acrylic on canvas board, each one is 51 x 41 cm
Gardening, watering and wandering Dad’s wonderful spaces gives me purpose…
Zinnias from Ashleigh
The joy of gardens is in sharing special plants with friends and family- growing gifts…
Daisies from Peggy Williams, (in honour of my mums name Daisy and her favourite colour -Yellow!)
Painting the multitudinous flowers is my therapy-
Part of my larger painting “Alyssum, Petunias and All”!
The full painting nestles beneath the white petunias that it features…
Lin Barrie, “Alyssum, Petunias and All!” Acrylic on canvas, framed 61 x 91 cm actual painting (larger with frame)
We plan a memorial morning tea for Dad on Thursday 7th October -10am till 12 noon at Mulberry Restaurant, BB Club, Borrowdale Brooke Estate.
The memorial for Gramps will be a bit different. I would like to ask all to bring their favourite herb, succulent or other plant in a sleeve or a pot and place it on a communal table, from which everyone can then choose someone else’s plant , taking away their new chosen plant to nurture in their own gardens in happy memory of dad.
Good friends and family, wide open spaces, bird song, and flowers to honour the legacy of love for nature, birds and gardens that dad left us all with.
Dad was not a purist gardener- he made good compost, sowed his seeds carefully and with love, and gave a multitude of different beloved plants the chance to spring fresh from the earth and compete gaily with each other for his admiration and attention!
Plantings of annuals in pots enabled dad to selectively water according to need with his watering can, saving wastage- always waterwise was Dad!
When I came to Harare to be with my dad as he became ill, those few frighteningly short, yet astonishingly long weeks ago, little knowing the desperate turn things would take, I was able to drop some leadwood installation poles plus paintings at Gallery Delta hours before the sudden loss of my Dad in my arms, and hours before the creeping Covid caught me as well, put me into quarantine and laid me flat in my daughter Kelli’s arms….
Leadwood fence posts for installation at Gallery Delta, as per a previous discussion with treasured artist and mentor, Helen Lieros, before she passed away with Covid
Amidst all the grief of losing our dad, there followed a few “on-the-edge” days when physically I felt very down, and my lovely doctor Cathy Chidoori had an ambulance on speed dial with her finger poised, (!)…but that worry soon passed and my breathing never quite got to a dangerous point. Kelli’s and Cathy’s care of me prevailed and Kelli and I have both actually valued the mandatory isolation in our own quiet garden space together… time to grieve, to cry, laugh, remember….
Kelli and her special ‘Gramps’ at his 90th Birthday
I am indeed feeling empowered, liberated, to create from the intense memories and joy all around me in this harare garden.
Dad loved this head-height scarlet red begonia variety… called it “Painted Toenails” and said that the toenails belonged to naughty angels who had been barred from heaven because of their scarlet nails!
Painted Toenails
I am gardening daily as well as painting, doing seed collections, propagating cuttings, sowing Dads packets of collected seeds as the season changes and the strong August winds blow leaves and flower petals around my paintings and toss my paint and flowers artistically onto the concrete Verandah floor!
Wind art
Our ‘Constant Gardener’ helpmate, Biggie, who was Dad’s true friend, a smiling and able companion in helping dad to create the garden that we love, tells me that the delightful Shona name for these particular fierce August winds is “Nyamavuvu”…
‘Nyamavuvu’ Art!
Biggie has become the ‘constant gardener’ and sieves fine homemade compost gently over the three types of zinnia seeds we have just scattered…
Biggie the gentle and constant gardener
Dad’s garden tip: Clever use of a water bath in a wheelbarrow soaks the seeds from the base up so that water droplets don’t displace the delicate layers of seeds before they are able to germinate …
Soaking gently to encourage new life….
And a few weeks later- three types of seeds successfully begin new life… dad would approve!
New life begins..
One of our installations-a garden totem erected by Dad, is a leadwood fencepost from the cattle era of the Save Valley Conservancy, my other treasured home. This post presides over our fire pit, with offerings nestled in every notch…. Inspiration for my own leadwood post installation to go up at the “Freedom” exhibition at Gallery Delta.
The leadwood post which guards our fire pit
Dad had such an eye for the abstract, the art, of everyday objects … bones on a string installation amidst artfully placed plants… and an old farm lamp burning with childhood memories…
The old farm lamp burns in our garden
A full moon rising over our palm trees. The full moon always draws me, a full moon = a full cycle of life
Full moon in our garden
Morning has broken…
Flowers and birdsong fill my mind and my garden as I wake each morning and stare out at the promise of a new day- I thrill to the trill of the robin chat after a night of owl calls-
The start of my day- my view into the garden from my bedroom doors
Each day feels like a new start… is a new start
Snapdragons bounce out- gifts from dad’s garden that grow and grow….,
treasures from dads plantings and gifts from friends…
Steph Watson and Di Kerr of Huku-Mombe, gift me flowers…
The bunches of sweet peas and ranunculus I am gifted from Steph, grown by Di of Huku Mombe – look at those irises! Hope in a flower….
Huku Mombe irises
and my painting of sweet peas and those affirmative irises grows…using charcoal and acrylic …
Moonlight in my garden , diptych, mixed media, each is 61 x 46 cm
I have beaten Covid, am growing in strength…much as the stunning irises gifted to dad on his birthday are growing in strength in our garden…
Our Irises bring joy, a growing gift to please and uplift …
Lying in bed I listen to Dads spotted eagle owls calling most nights, plus the barn owls, wood owls and greater galagos (bush babies) which thrive in the trees and dense gardens of the Brooke. As I imagine the flight of the owls out there in the night, I am excited for the “Freedom” exhibition that Helen Lieros and Derek Huggins were planning before we lost them also to COVID – I am so honoured to be part of that, as the delta trustees are forging ahead, honouring her wishes and setting up the show as her own last wish, her “last show”…. Helen had asked me to participate the last time I saw her in Borrowdale…. And then everything in our worlds turned upside down and we lost her, lost Derek …. So next weekend we’ll have an invited artists meeting at the gallery delta and plan from there. Something strong and good for me to focus on.
Dad, you have given me wings, strong foundations to build on as I sketch and paint the Nike, the Winged Greek Goddess of Victory, such a symbol of hope, freedom, flight….
Lin Barrie, “Nike Freedom I”, mixed media on canvas, 141 x 86 cm
the energy and love that I feel from our flowers, our installations, the birds and the butterflies in our garden empower me …
The Pearl Spotted Charaxes-Dad always loved this butterfly, fluttering round our garden with the warmer spring weather
The windy season brings sweet colours and flower petals thrown together by the August gusts …
The yellow of Spring!
Sweet peas….
The towering trellis of sweet peas that my father always grew in our sunny garden when I was a child, a wall of colour and bees to look up at, a screen of delicious perfume to wrap yourself in, lies gentle and sweet-scented on my mind…
Moonlight in the garden of good and evil… life and death, promise of rebirth…so many memories past and promises future…
Summer in Zimbabwe will bring vibrant Msasa colour to our gardens and Miombo woodlands- memories of seasons past, favourite Msasa trees and birding walks with dear dad through one of our favourite bird ‘gardens’ – the Mukuvisi Woodlands …
Lin Barrie, “Msasa Season”, diptych, acrylic on canvas, 76 x 51 cm each panel
No matter the season, we LOVE our garden, the memories past and the promise to come…
My art focus for the last few months has been intense on Flight, Fight, Freedom/Fences and Burnt Offerings.
“Burnt Offerings” being a theme which I have been exploring for many months, in collaboration with dear Johnson Zuze, as he and I discussed the idea of a co-exhibition called “Burnt Offerings” after realizing the fact of our mutually experienced house fires, losses and re-inventions….
A Phoenix installation from many years ago which i rescued from my house fire, waiting to be re-invented…
Lin Barrie, phoenix burnt….
This below is one of the burnt wooden bird sculptures which I rescued from my own house fire, which I gave to Johnson to re-invent…a phoenix rising from the ashes, a ‘burnt offering”… we liked the idea of “re-inventing”, “resurrecting” it…….. much like a phoenix.
Lin, Burnt Bird:
Burnt Bird, a phoenix rising from the ashes….
“Freedom” is so inspiring, a natural progression of thought reflecting my feelings of re-invention, taking flight, to combat boundaries real and perceived….
….to combat the trauma of life, fire, physical and emotional battles and constraints….
Freedom
is an elusive state
constrained
not only by physical boundaries
but by your mind…
Lin Barrie
Lin Barrie, Freedom is an elusive state….
Freedom and Fences- a theme personified by the iconic deadwoods that were historically the boundaries for cattle paddocks and dips, during the rise of subsidized cattle ranching which took over vast areas of traditional wildlife areas, and before the replacement of these very posts to again make way for wildlife….. boundaries and land use, flux and flow, freedom and restraint……..
Leadwood post- indestructible in nature, impervious to weather and termites, but totally vulnerable to fire…..
Fire is the only threat to these ‘indestructible’ lead woods, a devastating force,
I like to harness the force of fire in making my own charcoal for sketches….
Painting Shells, Fire, Painting Water, are elemental satisfactions for me…
Lin Barrie, Giant land snails , skeletons after a fire, acrylic on canvas, diptych, 2 x 2 feet and 2 x 3 feet
Lin Barrie, “Water…”, acrylic on canvas, 120 x 180 cm
Lin Barrie, Water, acrylic on canvas, 120 x 180 cm
Lin Barrie, “Fire…”, acrylic on canvas , 120 x 180 cm,
Lin Barrie, Fire, acrylic on canvas , 120 x 180 cm
the elemental power of fire will always draw me……….
Lin Barrie, What I Saw in the Fire, quartet,acrylic on stretched canvas-each 30 x 30 cm
and I ruminate on the force of fire, as a cleansing and as a destructor…
I have draped a large canvas, reminiscent of what I see when I stare into fire, into flames, whereupon I take flight or contemplate fight……..
Lin Barrie, Fire; Fight or Flight?, acrylic on draped canvas Height 184 cm Width 275 cm Width to point 435 cm
Lin Barrie, Fire; Fight or Flight?, acrylic on draped canvas
The “Winged Victory”, that stunning hellenic statue of Nike, Goddess of Victory, is the epitome of freedom, of rising to victory….
Winged Victory, Nike I, and II, are acrylic and charcoal on stretched canvas, each 42 x 30 cm (A3)
Lin Barrie Winged Victory, Nike I, and II, are acrylic and charcoal on stretched canvas, each 42 x 30 cm (A3)
Taking flight, my abstraction of that universal Swoosh symbol, the Nike flash, Winged Victory, Nike, a diptych, is acrylic on stretched canvas, each 42 x 30 cm …… is it a bird in flight or a swoosh?! …..either way it is a symbol of FREEDOM!
Lin Barrie, Winged Victory, Nike Swoosh, a diptych, is acrylic on stretched canvas, each 42 x 30 cm ……
Born of Fire, my painting “Winged Victory” is growing…acrylic/charcoal on stretched canvas 4 x 3 feet….
Lin Barrie, unfinished work “Winged Victory” ..acrylic/charcoal on stretched canvas 4 x 3 feet
Winged Victory; Beyond Beyonce, will be an acrylic/charcoal/collage installation on stretched/draped canvas inspired by the marks of sparks and fire on canvas, creativity and creation… Size 4 x 3 feet plus ‘wings’
Lin Barrie, Winged Victory; Beyond Beyonce…growing on my wall…
watch this space…..
Lin Barrie collage installation -detail from the larger work, Winged Victory; Beyond Beyonce
wine and wild dogs 