Barbara L. Sykes
My life, career, and art are intrinsically intertwined paths on a journey of self-discovery.
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Born into a family of artists, designers and inventors, I’ve always produced art. In 1974, I became one of Chicago’s pioneering video artists, and later to include, independent producer, curator and Professor of Television at Columbia College, Chicago. I received my MFA, with honors, from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. My time-based work revolves around themes of spirituality, rituals and indigenous cultures to reveal the threads that unite us, while exalting the distinguishing qualities that make us unique. Group museum exhibitions include; Museum of Modern Art, Paris, Museum of Modern Art, NYC, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, Kunst Museum, Germany, Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm, Carlsberg Glyptotek Museum, Copenhagen, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, Museum of the Art Institute and Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. An award-winning artist and recipient of numerous grants and artists residencies, I have toured international and presented my solo exhibitions in New York, Chicago, Japan, Australia, Spain, and was the first woman video artist to present in China. A featured artist in “Art in Chicago, 1945-1995”, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago’s retrospective exhibit, 1996-1997, and companion book produced for this show. As a featured artist and contributor in the book, “New Media Futures: The Rise of Women in the Digital Arts," 2018, I tour nationally as part of its book signing campaigns and present during its "Herstory's Symposiums."
Currently, I paint lyrical, colorful abstractions reminiscent of organic shapes, ethereal forms and underwater landscapes - evocative impressions of spiritual and elemental worlds. Created through a meditative, intuitive practice; the unconscious becomes conscious as colors flow across the paper and forms emerge in silence. In 2020, “Ethereal Abstractions,” premiered my solo watercolor exhibition of 81 paintings; this series evokes the spontaneity, themes and underlying presence of the Divine Feminine - reoccurring threads that continue from my previous body of my time-based art. "Ethereal Abstractions” is the recipient of an Evanston Arts Center Individual Artists Exhibition Award, Illinois Arts Council Artist Professional Development Grant and Arts for Illinois Relief Grant. In 2021, I moved to Florida and am now a member of The Florida Watercolor Society and COCO Art Gallery in Estero and Naples.
Currently, I paint lyrical, colorful abstractions reminiscent of organic shapes, ethereal forms and underwater landscapes - evocative impressions of spiritual and elemental worlds. Created through a meditative, intuitive practice; the unconscious becomes conscious as colors flow across the paper and forms emerge in silence. In 2020, “Ethereal Abstractions,” premiered my solo watercolor exhibition of 81 paintings; this series evokes the spontaneity, themes and underlying presence of the Divine Feminine - reoccurring threads that continue from my previous body of my time-based art. "Ethereal Abstractions” is the recipient of an Evanston Arts Center Individual Artists Exhibition Award, Illinois Arts Council Artist Professional Development Grant and Arts for Illinois Relief Grant. In 2021, I moved to Florida and am now a member of The Florida Watercolor Society and COCO Art Gallery in Estero and Naples.
