The art work of Karma Barnes

Karma Barnes

Karma was born in 1979 in Auckland, Aotearoa (New Zealand.) She received her degree in art and creativity, through Wellington’s TLC, International school of Art and Creativity.
Karma recently returned home to NZ from a artist residency at the El Hayelo centre of Colombia, where she developed a series of site-specific installations works in the desert of Villa de Leyva. She is currently working through her studio at Matapihi gallery in Raglan, New Zealand.

She has exhibited nationally and internationally in Europe and Latin America. Her artistic career has spanned an epic array of creativity ranging through fine-arts, installation work, multi-media, textiles, masks and performance art. Bringing to the world art that has been incubated in her south pacific island.

Karma has travelled extensively throughout Latin America, Canada, Asia, India and the South Pacific. Easily finding her self at home with local cultures by learning and relating. This has brought a strong influence into her work, and extends the universal themes of the work, drawing upon ancient and time honored techniques combined with modern mediums and concepts producing powerful and evocative works.

Her intension is to research the collective responsibility of the artist and the higher purpose of art. Through which to awaken the ceremonial relationship to life that lies within the human consciences. Art is a ceremony of life for Karma.


"I feel a challenge and a responsibility with the intention of my work, striving for integrity through every step of the process. My wish is to create work that inspires and supports humanity in a beautiful way, which offers an experience that allows the awareness of the reciprocal relationship of creativity and nature". Karma Barnes



BIOGRAPHY


Intenciones llenas de gracia, desde la fe hacia el siguiente paso.- Museo Antonio Narino, Villa de Leyva, Colombia. 2010.
Multi-media sketches and installation work.

Artist residency- El Hayelo, Villa de Leyva, Colombia. 2010
Reserching site specific impermanent environmental installation work.

Verbier Art, Galerie d'art & atelier de bijouterie- Verbier, Switzerland. 2009.

La Cave de la Ferme- Frangy, France. Solo exhibition, 2009.

Weaving the circle, Wellington Fringe festival of the Arts- Shed 13, Wellington Water front, Wellington, NZ, 2009.
An spell bounding exhibition of cyclonic beauty, with artists works based around the medicine wheel and mandala. Featuring multi medium works, a multi-media installation and a group installation that was produced over the two weeks of the show.

Michael Fowler Centre - Wellington, NZ - Work currently on display.

Studio Artist- Arts Unique, New Z, Dec 2008- January 2009.

The Parade Café - Wellington, NZ, Oct 2008. Joint exhibition with Sir Michael Fowler.

Water Dance - Wellington, NZ, 2008.-Multi media installation.

Tongarero Grandmother Dreaming - Wellington, NZ, 2008. – Multi-Media installation.

Dancers of Compassion (fundraiser for Tibet with Tenzin Chogel)- Nelson School of Music, Nelson. Chandrakirti Centre, NZ. 2008
Dance performance based on the ten armed Chenrezig, choreography, costume design.

Degree Art and Creativity - The Learning Connexion, International School of Art and Creativity, 2008.

Four Winds Gallery - Motueka, New Zealand, 2006-09.

Dingo Installation - The Dreaming Indigenous Festival, Queensland, Australia, 2007
Multi-media installation.

The Red Blanket Gathering - Queensland, Australia, 2007. Art Display.

A Felt Odyssey - Morrison St Café, Nelson, NZ, 2006. Solo show, multi-medium works in wool.

Mahuka Creations - Fibre Spectrum Gallery, Nelson, NZ, 2006. Solo show, Wearable Art

Ora Gallery - Wellington, NZ, 2006.

Dip Art and Creativity - The Learning Connexion, International School of Art and Creativity, 1997-99.

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Recent article published in the TLC express


Intenciones llenas de gracia

Monday, May 10th, 2010


In January and February of 2010, I had the fortunate opportunity to receive an artist residency at the El Hayelo centre in Villa de Leyva, Boyaca, Colombia. How can I put into words the impression this beautiful and majestic place made upon me, both as an artist and person?

Colombia speaks to me of colour and life; alive with natural pigments and materials, deep with roots of myth and history. Some time ago, in a dream, I saw aqua blue waters set next to ochre desert sands. For months, I have been searching for that place. I found it in Villa de Leyva.

Here, time stands still. The town was founded in 1572 and looks now very much as it did then. It is preserved in its entirety and virtually no modern architecture exists. The streets, in Spanish style, are still cobble stoned and the walls whitewashed. It is located in a high altitude valley, where fossils from the ancient ocean floor have been preserved in the desert landscape. The village is framed by a branch of the Andes. Santuario De Iguaque can be reached within a day’s walk. Santuario is the creation lake of the indigenous, Muisca.



The focus of my residency was to produce a series of multi-media works and to research the group process through site-specific installation work. The work seeks to bridge a connection between people and the environment, the development of environmental compassion through direct experience, and the facilitation of the group process in artistic acts offering gratitude to the land.

In the production of the installation work, I had the fortunate opportunity to work with Colombian artist, Catalina Garcina, who brought a new fluidity and expressionistic quality to the work. We scouted a site for the installation and found Villa de Leyva to be the perfect setting to shift the work from the previous gallery-based spaces, to the site-specific outdoor environment. I was mystified to realise the exact setting of a dream I had experienced some 12 months earlier. A desert scape surrounding the aqua-blue lakes of the natural phenomena ‘Agua Azul’. Several days were spent gathering materials around the local area. It was hard to move our noses off the ground, the land was so vibrant with pigment. The area is a geological paradise.



At sunrise, on the day of the installation, Catalina and I began our artistic expression of gratitude to the land. We worked with the desert purples, pinks and fire ochres. We discovered the remnants of a fire by the lake. We gathered the charcoal, whose blackness articulated the depth of the universe. Maize represented the culture of the Andes. Wheat flour was utilized for the white pigment. Later we discovered its true significance. The land had once been used to grow wheat, but could no longer sustain it. So that memory was upheld for the land.

As the work and day drew to a close, toward that special hour of light, a group of local artists and writers came to participate in the completion of the work. The group response was powerful. Songs were sung, words of prayers spoken for the land and people of Colombia. The work was validated and integrated into the land.



After spending the prior 6 months in Mexico, visiting ancient Maya sites, partaking in indigenous ceremonies and traveling by horse back across the state of Oaxaca on an environmental project (see www.nomadsunited.com) and with a wealth of experience to draw upon, I was itching to get into the studio.

During the residency I produced a series of multi-media sketches, weaving themes of horses and Danza de la Luna (ceremonial dance of the moon) into landscapes of the Colombian Andes.

My experience at the El Hayelo residency was extremely positive. The residency’s support enabled me to organise a successful project in a country with many social and cultural differences. My heart was truly warmed by the reception I received. I feel compelled to mention that putting on an exhibition can be challenging enough at the best of times, try organising a show in a foreign language; it’s hilarious!



An exhibition of my work was hosted by the historic Casa Museo Antonia Narino Museum. It was titled, ’Intenciones llenas de gracia, desde la fe hacia el siguiente paso’, (Intensions of grace, from one leap of faith to the next.). The show featured the multi-media sketches, photo documentation of the desert installation and an on-site installation. The response to the work was from the heart. Being featured in the museum gave the work great accessibility to the community. It was a deeply fulfilling experience and an amazing opportunity to develop my work.

I now have a new project underway, entitled Sacra Tierra Project. The objective is to continue the development of land-based installation art and facilitate the collective responsibility and awareness of caring for the land we walk upon.

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