Flow by Ji Eun Choi

Flow

“By encouraging paint and water to do what they do best – flow, I am able to paint what cannot be photographed. My work evokes the essence of nature.”  Barbara Nechis

Barbara Nechis is an artist who has developed a style known for its masterful balance of spontaneity and control of the watercolor brush. Nechis uses the fundamentally abstract patterns of nature both as a source of inspiration and as a compositional element sometimes in disorienting juxtapositions. The resulting paintings allude to the physical landscape without imitating it. Her intention is to form an illusion of landscape even though the shapes themselves may or may not be found in nature.

All of the parts of her painting work harmoniously together. Many of the other rules Nechis has been taught seem to be extraneous. The working out of a painting involves infinite choices of hers, some easier to make than others. 

Although her work is rooted in nature, Nechis often invents shapes that suggest the appearance of certain identifiable objects without actually defining the limits of those objects. She allows herself to respond to the entire experience of nature.

Barbara Nechis holds a BA in History and Fine Arts from the University of Rochester and an MS from Alfred University. She was a faculty member of Parsons School of Design for many years and has taught seminars at Pratt Institute, throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Nechis has served as a juror and director of the American Watercolor Society and is the author of Watercolor From the Heart (Watson-Guptill Publications, 1993) and Watercolor the Creative Experience (North Light Books, 1979). Her work appears in many publications and collections, among them the Butler Institute of American Art, IBM, and Citicorp. She resides in Napa Valley in northern California.

Ji Eun Choi is an international student from South Korea at Buffalo Seminary. She worked at the Burchfield Penney Art Center as an intern in her high school senior year.  She currently got admitted University of California, San Diego.

The Art of Jackie Jacobson. Meet the Artist - Barbara Nechis, n.d. Web. 3 June 

     2013. <http://jackiejacobson.com/02/meet-the-artist-barbara-nechis/>. 

Art of Watercolor. Barbara Nechis. Interview, n.d. Web. 3 June 2013. 

     <http://sterkhovart.blogspot.com/2012/03/barbara-nechis-interview.html>. 

Barbara Nechis Watercolor artist. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 June 2013. 

     <http://www.barbaranechis.com/index.htm>.