Mixed Media Art by Rita Barnard

Rita Barnard - Tribute to the Fallen

Rita Barnard - Tribute to the Fallen - 2007
mixed media - 18 to 24 x 24-inch panels

These 18 + panels have been created to celebrate and remember the military men and women who have lost their lives in service to our country. There were many who fought along side the United States armies that were from foreign lands. When this piece was installed January 6, 2007, there had been 3,256 military lives given for the war in Iraq. As of February 27, 2007, - the number has reached 3,417, which averages 27 lives per week. Each toy soldier on these panels represents a life given in this effort.

These toy soldiers represent someone's son, daughter, father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, aunt, uncle, husband wife or friend. Each toy soldier represents someone who has made an impact on the lives of their friends, families, and loved ones. They deserve to be remembered and honored, individually.

Let us mourn for those that have been lost. Let us pray for those left behind. Let us appreciate their sacrifice. Let us be glad they were born, came into our lives and celebrate the lives that they lived.

Rita Barnard - Where's The Fat Girl?

Rita Barnard - Where's the Fat Girl
mixed media - 24 x 24 inches

Body image is an enormous issue for young girls. My first memories are being told “you would be a pretty girl, if you would loose weight,” “you have such a pretty face if you just lose the baby fat.” I thought I was fat beyond the acceptable size and weight for my age.

Preparing to move my mom, I went through volumes of pictures, letters and papers. Traveling through our families photo history, I found nostalgic images of my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. There were school pictures, and candid shots of my youth. They were amusing at first, but upon closer inspection, I focused on the facial features of the young girl that I knew to be me. Who's body was attached to those features? The little girl in the photos seemed to be appropriate size. I could not help but wonder - where is the fat girl?

While enjoying my trip down memory lane, the fat girl started showing up in my adult photos. I wondered when the actual physical transformation occurred. In my mind I had always been obese. Self fulfilling prophecy had come into fruition.

Seemingly insignificant utterances of criticism said to a child has a long lasting impact, especially to a child whose dearest wish is to please their loved ones. As children we begin to think we are defective or broken and until we are “fixed” we are undeserving of love. Many young girls resort to purging to maintain an acceptable weight. This can result in dangerous eating disorders. Many carry these disorders into adulthood, and die from these illnesses.

Coming to terms with weight issues and how they came to be is a personal battle too many of us experience. This can be avoided by accepting children, they are OK the way they are. Understanding goes a very long way in nurturing a young life. Every human being is different, has a particular personality, has strengths and tenderness that are influenced by those they love. Be kind.

Rita Barnard -

Rita Barnard - When I am Finished
mixed media - 24 x 24 inches

This has become a time of reflection for me in my life. The thought of my own mortality is very much in the forefront of my mind. Maybe because I am getting older and possibilities seem to be less, or knowing things have not turned out the way I had hoped, or having had several near death experiences have caused me to look at how my life is.

Even though things are not as I had planned, and possibilities may not be what I had hoped for there are many good things in my life that have been wonderful surprises. A nice surprise is that I don't really want most of the things I had hoped for! The things that I thought would be of value to me seem insignificant. The important things are not things I can put my hands on. There are so many good things that can still happen in my life. There are so many things I would like to accomplish.

I am a person that needs to make lists - mostly to keep my life and thoughts in somewhat of an organized state. I am forgetful, I get distracted easily, I can't seem to hold on to a conversation without straying off point. All things I would like to improve. There are many things I would like to do, places I would like to see. I have many bad habits that need changing. In the overall scheme of things, when I am finished I would like to be a good person. One who is thoughtful, is of service to others, is loving and kind.

Rita Barnard - Life is like a Patchwork Quilt

Rita Barnard - Life is like a Patchwork quilt
mixed media - 16 x 24 inches

Sometimes I see my life as a type of mosaic or puzzle or patchwork quilt. It is amazing to me of how many components make up my life, and more amazed that everyone has the same complexities and puzzles in their own lives. The older we get the more we realize that every experience we have, every thought we have, everyone we meet makes us each very unique individuals.

Sometimes when reminiscing with my sister, we will tell stories about things that we did or things that happened, and we almost never remember the same experience the same way. After a number of years of relating the same story, we have somehow accepted one version of the story. We have been in the same place at the same time, and something about the experience may make an impact on her, and I have forgotten it, The merging and organization of our experiences, feelings and personalities is the pattern we use for our memories.

The past is the beginning of our collection of the fabric for our patchwork quilt. As we live we add components, we organize them and somehow make order to our quilt. We tie them together with the colorful threads of the people we know and love. In the end we have a lovely, ordered quilt that covers our life.

Rita Barnard - I Want to See The Body

Rita Barnard - I Want to See The Body
mixed media - 24 x 24 inches

Considering all the publicity about Ken Lay's participation and responsibility for the fall of Enron, one of the countries largest companies, there was very little coverage of his death and funeral. I just had to wonder if he was really dead. My sister was the first to say “I want to see the body.”

I searched the Internet for information on his autopsy. There was very little about the funeral itself, and of course the body was “cremated” immediately. I found one very funny article featuring a poorly altered photo of a body with Ken Lay's smiling face on it, accompanied by some comments that the grieving widow could not be reached because she was recuperating on some remote island somewhere!

Found on the Internet were an abundance conspiracy theories and information to support them. The assassination theory supports the idea that he was a liability with so much insider information that was sensitive to many individuals high up in our government. The suicide theory supports the idea that he would be exonerated of all wrong doing, therefore leaving his family with no responsibility of paying restitution for his “wrong doing.” The vacationing theory is supported by the amount of untouchable annuity funds he and his wife would receive beginning in February 2007 in an amount estimated to be $900,000 a year. What is your theory?

Rita Barnard - War Isn't Pretty

Rita Barnard - War Isn't Pretty
mixed media - 24 x 24 inches

No matter how you gloss over it, spin it, or glamorize it, - war is not pretty. No matter how you hide the number of fatalities, or delete the pictures of the caskets returning with the American flag draped over them, - war still is not pretty. The “out of sight out of mind” theory had blinded us to the fact that - war is not pretty. When the number of fatalities that are reported by the media are just U.S. fatalities, and not the total number of military lives lost, still does not make war pretty.

It is not pretty to see someone smirk and say they appreciate the sacrifice, it is not pretty to look into the eyes of a service man that has been told he will not be able to come home to his family after being promised he could. It is not pretty seeing the wife of a service man that can't come home crying because she cannot pay her bills. It is not pretty when a family gets a letter that they have lost a loved one, and that they must repay funds for services not rendered. It is not pretty seeing children being cared for in burned out buildings because their hospitals have been bombed. It is not pretty to walk down the street and see dismembered bodies strewn about.

I know and hope that no one thinks that war is pretty. It is vile, torturous, sadistic, bloody, heinous, and ugly. It is wastes natural resources, it depletes human resources, it causes more strife and fear. War is bending someone's will to meet your expectations. It is using force to gain compliance. It creates resentment and distrust. Why do the wants of so few dictate the actions of so many? Why then do so many people subscribe to the thought that war can have a pretty outcome?

Rita Barnard - Union Street

Rita Barnard - Union street
mixed media

I have heard and read many things about the destruction and aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. There have been many shows on prime time that have used the drama of this event to write stories about. One in particular was about a nurse that euthanized some elderly people that had no chance of survival after days of neglect and nobody coming to help. It was fiction, although I wonder, but part of the story was shining the light on how completely surreal it was at that time. Stressing how no one could possibly imagine the horror of the situation.

In our culture we have traditional ways we return our bodies to the soil. Even homeless people have designated parcels of land dedicated to their remains. We try to dignify each person with a proper burial, have someone say some words over them and hand them back to God. We are fortunate that, even the death of an unidentified human being deserves care. The man that was the subject of this piece was treated tenderly, and every step was taken to try to identify him and return him to his family.

I thought about that. The United States of America, the most powerful and richest country in the world has never experienced such a trauma on such a grand scale. The vision of bodies floating in the rivers, bodies rotting under bridges, bodies left unclaimed in the street is NOT something we see everyday or hopefully in our lifetimes. Even in the face of such a horrific event most of us have something we can do for the unfortunate, homes we can share, funds we can give. We are lucky. There are many impoverished countries where people die of starvation, illness and exposure and dead bodies in the streets are common. This is not because they do not care for their dead, it is because they cannot care for them.

Rita Barnard - Windows on the World

Rita Barnard - Windows on the World
mixed media - 48 x 24 inches

It has been said that “the eyes are the windows to the soul.” I always presumed that to mean that when you directly looked into someone's eyes you could tell what kind of soul they had. But on further deliberation it could mean that your eyes are your windows to the world. Like when you look out your windows in your house you see the unfamiliar world outside your comfortable surroundings. This causes me to think that the way you see the outside world determines the way you feel safely inside your comfort zone.

When you look out you may see your children playing happily, you may see someone getting mugged in the park. You may see someone carelessly run a red light, you may see someone putting a quarter in the parking meter of a stranger. The way you react to the things you see molds your personality.

As we go through life we have choices at to the way we react to the things that happen in our daily lives. As Voltaire said “Our two eyes do not make our lot better; one serves us to see the good things, the other the evils of life. A lot of people have the bad habit of closing the first, and very few close the second.” Seeing the good in the world is our choice.

Rita Barnard — January 2007

Contact Rita Barnard at Sidney5814@aol.com

Looking for My Life by Rita Barnard