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Barbara Gleason
Barbara (Bryan Cooper) Gleason grew up exploring her New Jersey neighborhood full of old gardens, abandoned orchards and undeveloped woods, stopping to watch and observe animals and birds wherever she went. Visits to Pennsylvania woodlands allowed her opportunities to follow deer and birds, learning to walk silently so she could watch how they lived their lives. She moved to New England for college, where she further developed her interest in bird and animal behavior, and discovered “birding” and birders, while getting her college education.
Venturing West to pursue art and life she first landed in San Francisco, then settled in Eugene in the early 1970s, raised a daughter and found a fellow bird-lover as partner and husband, ornithologist, Dan Gleason.
She finds being in nature meditative and regenerating, and finds much in life improves when one can be outside enjoying nature. Her love of the natural world, and its diversity of color, behavior and life strategies, inspire her to portray the beings with which we share the planet, hoping that by doing so, she will help her viewers learn about and appreciate her subjects more. Each life has its own story to tell and Barbara endeavors to try to discover it.
Her detailed depictions of birds and animals (mostly) arise from her background in scientific illustration and graphic design, and an emphasis on accuracy. She has a long history using pen and ink, but seeking to add color and more life to her work, she now applies layers of colored pencil onto strong papers, then “paints” with a stiff brush to achieve further blending of the many layers of individual colors.
Her work has been shown in juried exhibits in Oregon, Wisconsin, and New York. Current and upcoming shows include Active Life Physical Therapy Center in Eugene, Peace Health Medical Center (Hospital) in Eugene and Ithaca, New York.
She is active in the Colored Pencil Society of America (CPSA) and the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators (GNSI), and has a business (BGleason Design & Illustration) doing graphic design and illustration in Eugene.
Contact: Barbara Gleason
(541) 345-3974
Permission for use of any image in this gallery or on this Web site is required.
Last Leaves Before the Rain
(Downy Woodpecker, Picoides pubescens)
Barbara Gleason
2007, Giclée prints available
Green Heron
(Butorides virescens)
Barbara Gleason
2007, Giclée prints available
Pied-billed Grebe Parent With Begging Youngster
Barbara Gleason
2007, Giclée prints available
Their Serene Highnesses…at the Moment
Sophie and Tommy, the “grand-cats”
Barbara Gleason
2008, Giclée prints available
| © CPSA District Chapter 201
