Celebrating Dataw Artists – Barbara Carakostas
by Marie Doyon & Bill Riski
Where are you from and what do you make?
I am from Saginaw, Michigan and graduated from Michigan State University with a B.S. in interior design. I met my spouse, Mike, at MSU; we’ve been married for 49 years. Because of his career, we have lived in several cities across the U.S. – Manhattan, New York; Manhattan, Kansas; Baron Rouge, Louisiana; Westwood, Massachusetts; Wilmington, Delaware; West Chester, Pennsylvania; Atlanta, Georgia; until we moved to Dataw Island. Currently, I make collage and mixed media paintings and assemblages.
Barbara’s very first painting
How long have you seriously been pursuing art?
Since childhood, I have loved drawing, painting, and “cutting and pasting” magazine photos to create greeting cards, school posters, and bulletin board displays. Art was always my favorite subject, and my junior high art teacher, Miss Goo, was especially inspiring and encouraging. As a seventh grader in her class, I made a tissue paper collage that was accepted into the 35th annual Flint (MI) Area Student Art Exhibit. It currently hangs in our kitchen.
Barbara’s seventh grade collage
We moved frequently due to my husband’s various career advancements, which allowed me to pursue my passion for art. As a result, I was able to take advantage of many educational and career opportunities in the art world. While in NY, I worked as the Assistant Director for Delsey Fabrics, a home furnishings textile company.
Our next move to Kansas allowed me to pursue a graduate degree in Family Economics at Kansas State University. My master’s project resulted in co-founding the first non-profit hospice in Kansas. Years later, that experience served me well when I was asked to curate the art for Beaufort County’s new Caroline’s Cottage, an inpatient hospice.
The move to Baton Rouge allowed me to teach Family Economics at Louisiana State University. Household Management was a class I most enjoyed teaching as it included kitchen design and space management. So while living in Pennsylvania for several years, I started my kitchen, closet, and interior design business, Interior Images, Ltd. At the same time, I attended the University of Delaware to obtain elementary education certification. I had discovered that I didn’t like the managing or marketing aspects of owning a business, which led to my teaching career. Here I could easily incorporate art into my lesson plans for my third and fifth graders.
A Value Study Series by Barbara Carakostas
Moving to Atlanta allowed me to retire from teaching and begin to study art at the Spruill Center for the Arts in Dunwoody, GA. My first class was in decorative painting, where I met Arlene Brass. With the encouragement of our instructor, Lois Coogle, Arlene and I started Faux-Your-Walls. We began painting furniture, decorative accessories and large-scale murals for the Mellow Mushroom restaurants.
At the same time, I began to study with professional artist, Chery Baird. She ignited my passion for collage and mixed media. She arranged yearly trips to NYC, where she provided guided tours of dozens of art museums and galleries. She remains an important inspiration for me to this day.
While in Atlanta, I became active in the Atlanta Artists Center (AAC) where I participated in their monthly, juried exhibitions. I also had the privilege of serving as the chair of the AAC biannual National Art Exhibit in 2007. I am a founding member of the Atlanta Collage Society as well.
Lake Superior Beach Walk by Barbara Carakostas
Fireworks by Barbara Carakostas
What inspires you to create?
My maternal grandfather, John Bovill, was a significant inspiration for me because of his own love for drawing, painting, and photography. He spent many hours with me in his sunroom studio giving me lessons in painting and drawing. He sent letters to me which he had illustrated with pencil sketches and little watercolor paintings. Every year, he took me to the annual art fair in Ann Harbor, MI. This is a pastel portrait he did of me.
Portrait of Barb by John Bovill
Mostly I am inspired to create by the discoveries I make during my travel adventures: the landscapes, the architecture, and the different cultures. My collages reflect the colors, patterns, and textures of the places I have visited. Recently I exhibited a series of four mixed media paintings from my “Travel Journal” series. My assemblage, Lake Superior Beach Walk, is in the current VAC exhibit.
Dataw history also inspires me. I love dyeing paper to use in my collages. Having read The Indigo Girl and knowing indigo was grown here, I wanted to use indigo dyes and enrolled in the VAC-sponsored indigo dyeing workshop taught by Dataw resident Lori Thompson. I am working on an “Indigo Collage” series using the papers dyed in that workshop.
Collage by Barbara Carakostas
Collage by Barbara Carakostas
Collage by Barbara Carakostas
Which artists have had the most impact on your creations? What do they do, and in what way do they influence you?
Of course, my grandfather was the first to introduce me to art. He taught me how to paint and observe and study my surroundings, wherever we were, whatever we were doing. He taught me to “see” the world’s colors, shapes, and textures.
Chery Baird, my primary art instructor for twelve years and an award-winning artist, has had a significant impact on my art. She is an amazing instructor, and I am fortunate to have studied under her. She continues to inspire me to become a better artist.
I credit the following artists for influencing my creations:
Milton Avery for his unique use of color and simplified forms. Together with his wife, Michelle, and daughter, March, the “Avery Style” was born and known throughout the art world to this day.
Henri Matisse for his cut-out paintings
Andrew Wyeth’s neutral color palette
Richard Diebenkorn’s Ocean Park Series
The quilts of Gee’s Bend
Romare Bearden’s collages
Is there a work of art that has changed your life or how you view the world in some way?
That’s a tough one! But I have a collage done by Chery Baird that hangs on the wall just as you enter our house. It’s the first and last work of art I see every day. I cherish it and never tire of looking at it!
As a member of VAC, what do you like most about us?
The VAC Board’s commitment to providing its members with educational opportunities to grow as artists, exhibit our work, and sell our work. As an artist, you never stop learning. I am thrilled, too, with the growth of our membership that I’ve witnessed over the past fourteen years.
