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Beth Barnett

The Arts Center Exhibitions:

• 'Portals,' Winter Show & Silent Auction, 2011
• 'Shrines and Reliquaries' Show and Silent Auction, Winter 2009

Artist's Statement, 'Fantasy Stapler Twin Set Box' - 'Portals,' Winter Show & Silent Auction, 2011:

After considering the various possibilities to keep with the theme "portals," I chose to take the direction of a fantasy portal to another place or dimension. The idea of a nondescript closet, train station locker, box, crystal ball, or wardrobe that is a portal to another place is a commonly occurring theme in fantasy fiction and legend. My non-descript secret fantasy portal is a regular ol' box set of staplers...an old package stored on a shelf for decades and forgotten? Who would think to look in there? The design of the outside is in the theme of vintage packaging and office equipment, but it isn't an actual replica of a real Swingline stapler set (um, it's a fantasy stapler set). When you look Inside, you discover it doesn't contain staplers at all! It is a portal to another place, the entrance covered with some overgrown fauna, but in the distance: a path, a valley, and mountains. Is it a short cut to a real place on earth, or another magical dimension entirely?

Biography:

Beth A. Barnett is an oil painter, printmaker, and illustrator who makes her home in Corvallis. Beth paints in a contemporary realism style and often chooses urban landscapes for her subjects. Although a 2D artist primarily, Beth enjoys the challenge to offer up a special 3D piece for the Art Center's holiday show theme. You can see more of Beth's artwork, plus her handmade books and illustrated cookbook, at her website www.bethbee.com.

Visit Beth Barnett's website.