Barbara RydzRoss – Whimsical Weavings

Artist Statement

My content is not literal but emotional, comprised of color, texture and light.  By using vivid color, with high contrast to accentuate light, movement and drama, I express my connection to nature and people. By penetrating, stabbing, or touching shapes I make a desperate attempt to relate, to affect, to establish communication, to link together. This need emerges from my solitary life in my studio and the observation that we are losing our ability to relate to each other face-to-face because our predominant communication is now conducted online.   I work abstractly, intuitively, with an overpowering need for balance and connection.

Artist Biography

Born in Belgium to Polish immigrants, concentration camp survivors,
Barb RydzRoss has lived in New York, London, Hong Kong and Germany.

After working in Human Resources for 23 years, raising three children alone, she returned to painting and studying art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she earned certification in both Drawing and Painting. (She has an undergraduate degree in Art from CCNY.)   She has also attended classes at Harper College and has taken various workshops across the country with accomplished artists.

Ross has exhibited in Chicago at the Merchandise Mart, at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, New York City at the Jacob Javits Center and her work can be viewed on the website and catalogues of Xanadu Gallery.  Four of her larger acrylic paintings are permanently hung in the lobby of One Arlington Plaza, Arlington Heights, IL and other smaller works are hung throughout the building. North Light Books has published one of her collage paintings in the 2014 publication of Incite 2 Color Passions the Best of Mixed Media.  Her painting “Green Forest” was selected as a winner in the AcrylicWorks7 competition, which was published October 2020.  Her painting “It Just Takes One” was recently chosen to be in the 11th Annual International Society of Acrylic Painters Open International Online Exhibition in 2020. She was chosen by the Birmingham Public Library in Michigan to participate in a project called “Zip Us Up!” in 2021-2022.  She was part of the “Modern Art National Juried Exhibition” in Anna, Texas in 2021. Her work and other exhibit participations can be viewed on her website : www.barbararossart.com.