Barbara Hocker

Artist Statement

I love being alone in the woods or at the shore. That feeling of nature “bathing” is what I try to bring into my art making. I am inspired by the things I learn about nature and energy thru my practice of Tai Chi & Qi Gong, which are ancient Chinese forms of moving meditation and internal martial art. They teach me how to connect to nature and feel the world instead of just looking at the surface of things. Yin and yang, being and nonbeing, stillness and movement, light and dark, sea and sky, surface and depth, sight and sound, artist and viewer, self and nature - I am interested in exploring how one can see through polarities to sense the invisible and mysterious unity underlying them. I try to share the sense of presence, deep quiet, and dynamic stillness that I find in meditation through my artwork.

I start with images of water that I capture with various digital cameras and lenses. I shoot streams, rivers, lakes, and the sea. I always look for a flow state of mind to match the flowing water when I am out enjoying the serenity of the woods or shore. I approach photography as a Zen art and try to keep my thinking/judging mind and plans or expectations quieted, beginning with a Tai Chi centering practice. In this way every day is a new experience whether I am visiting a location for the first time or revisiting it again and again. The water and the environment are always unique and I concentrate on being present in the “now”. Then I come back to the studio to meditate on the photos and interpret the water in book forms and structures.

Sometimes I include Monotype prints, suminagashi marbling, and/or watercolor paintings with the archival pigment prints of the photos in my work. Monotypes are basically ink paintings on plexi that are allowed to dry and then are pulled off with damp rice paper. I also do direct watercolor paintings on rice paper and suminagashi which is Japanese paper marbling. I begin each painting session with a Tai Chi practice. Ink and watercolor painting are intuitive and expressive for me, in the same way as the Tai Chi form is an expression of my unique state of being each time I practice it.

Combining all these image making results with various book structures allows me to express my feelings and impressions of different bodies of water, from the waves of the sea, to flowing streams, and waterfalls. Most of my artist books have no text and the images and their sequence tell the story of the beauty and sacredness of water. Occasionally I am inspired to write poems and haiku for certain books.