Studio Visit  and art making   2323 Monroe St. NE, Minneapolis, MN

Custom studio tour and artmaking for your group of 4-8 people.

Barbara Bridges has been an artist and a teacher/college professor for over 40 years. Her sculptures have been exhibited in Maine, the Virgin Islands, Miami, Maryland, Chicago, Mexico, Spain, Canada  and throughout Minnesota. She was voted The Art Teacher of Minnesota -twice.

Barbara creates social practice art from fabricated components in a variety of media and rescued “power objects”. She considers herself an intervener on the journey of the materials and/or objects she uses to create a new artistic narrative. She will provide most supplies OR Bring 2 or 3 of your important objects (or her treasures) and we will engineer them into an artwork.  Create healing cuffs, wranklets,  neckpieces or SCULPTURES.

Video Tour of Re-Cycle/Upcycle  Home and Studio   

See more pictures of the unique property:  https://www.arttochangetheworld.org/art365

$50 Adults $40 Children – includes most supplies
Confirm:  drb@bridgescreate.com
Limited Space: 8 people Maximum: drb@bridgescreate.com

SCULPTURES… Bring special Objects to create a new narrative.  I have many metal and wood objects for you to use.

Art As My Weapon Exhibitions

Barbara Bridges, Director of ACW

Title: X2
18” x 24”
Found and fabricated object and clay constructions, police buy back gun parts.
Price: $400

Join Barbara at the Hennepin County Library for an opening event on April 23 between 3:00 and 4:30. See details above. Beverages following…Barbara’s treat.

Artwork Statement
In 2020, the most recent year for which complete data is available, 45,222 people died from gun-related injuries in the U.S., according to the CDC. That figure includes gun murders and gun suicides -comprise over 50% of gun deaths.  Some gun deaths are deaths are also accidental.  If you own a gun, you are 2 times more likely to die by gun.

If you feel the need to own a gun, improve your odds. Learn to use your gun and keep it in a safe.

Barbara creates social practice art from fabricated components in a variety of media and rescued “power objects.” She manipulates the objects to create meaning and provoke discussions and reflection on a wide variety of social topics.

She is an intervenor and believes that artists are simply interveners on any particular materials and/or objects the artist manipulates.  Any object already has a story, the artist simply recombines these objects to create a new narrative.  https://www.arttochangetheworld.org/barbara-bridges
drb@bridgescreate.com

In the Collection of Richard Moody!!  In the jump suit.

Live a Considered Life: The Wise Ones (No Silos) and The Un-Wise Ones (Think Alike Silo)
24” X 36” 2 works.
Mixed Media  Fabricated clay, wood, found objects
$600

Inspired by my “Motivationals” series,  Live a Considered Life  includes two companion works of  gender neutral personages sharing how living  in a “think alike silo” creates  a colorless boring culture feeding on itself. They see nothing, hear nothing and say nothing.  Embracing the concept of “no silos” produces a  colorful evolving culture full of a positive exchange of ideas, help creating our own personal narratives and leading to positive social change.

“We tell ourselves the tragic story of our lives and then think we can justify us playing the role of the “broken hero” or the “grizzled realist” but the fact of the matter is that if this is the story we chose to tell about ourselves we are leaving out the good parts and doing a terrible disservice to ourselves and anyone who has been good to us along the way.“  Morgan Bridges

It is our choice how we create our own narratives – past, present and future. It is our choice to make each day bring a spot of joy.  Plan each day with a joy experience included. For yourself and for others.

Life is a menu.  When something you love goes off the menu, replace it with something even more soulful.

Motivationals in the Live a Considered Life series.  Mixed Media  Fabricated clay, wood, found objects.  Click to enlarge.

We’ve Got the Whole World in Our Hands

Barbara Rogers Bridges  drb@bridgescreate.com
2022  Mixed Media: Found objects, wood construction, beads, acrylic paint
Value $500

In these troubling times, it is imperative that we remember that WE have the whole world in our hands.  WE have the choices.  WE can use our hands and our hearts to save our world or to end it.   We’ve Got the Whole World in Our Hands gathers many healing objects together and surrounds the work with jaguars, which in Mexican culture signifys power, ferocity and wisdom, as well as protection from evil.

Leonard Cohen says it best:
Ring the Bells which still can ring…
Forget that PERFECT offering…
There is a crack, a crack, in EVERYTHING.
That’s how the LIGHT gets in!

How to Lose a Democracy
Barbara Rogers Bridges
22” X  24” , Mixed Media
$400
drb@bridgescreate.com  612 845 0416

My coming of age included demonstrations against the Vietnam War in Washington D.C.

50 years later, I am still political.

Having been consistently critical of the U.S. government, I am now feeling deeply patriotic – and fearful.

There are 7 billion people on our little planet and I suggest it is a statistical improbability that any one worldview could have found the only valid truth; it is at the very least breathtakingly arrogant. Are the two camps liberal vs. conservative?

It seems more specific than that, it appears to be
Trumpers vs. Never Trumpers.

Communication appears to have stopped.

Collecting data from credible sources appears to have stopped.

When Communication stops. All is lost.

Neckpieces.  Bring objects from your life. Grandma’s big gaudy broach pins.  I have many beads and findings.

Barbie B
In the collection of Barbara Bridges.  Barbie B was created from objects from my history but not being worn.
Now there is a new narrative.

Hand over Heart

18 ” X  1″

Found Objects with Patzquaro enamel .  Home is  wooden handcrafted heart.

In the collection of Linda Fox

NFS

Most Necklaces include a wall hanging frame or “home” where the piece lives when not being worn. All are created from antique findings and are One-Of-A-Kind.

Red Hot
Three sets of antique findings. High end and elegant.
$800
Model:  Kelly Frankenberg

Carpe Diem
Found objects of silver and turquoise. A nod to a different way of thinking about death.

Cactus/Boot Home Included.

$800

Nape Drape #1 
$200
This unique scarf necklace, Nape Drape,  is  created from silk and findings.   Works in cold or hot weather.

Collar Azul
18 ” X 12″  x 1″
Antique finding, Cyprus knee home.
$800