This month, we arepleased to spotlight artist, Barbara Danser and her Danser Art Studios. Please enjoy!
Barbara says, "I enjoy beingactively involved in the visual arts. I am a painter in 5 different media, asculptor and a maker of glass jewelry and panels. I am a member of the Monadnock Writers Groupand am interested in all forms of literary arts. I take pleasure in writingone-act plays. I am an adjunctinstructor, teaching painting classes at New Hampshire Institute of Art inSharon. I conductBarbara Danser painting workshops throughout the year at theCurrier Art Center in Manchester, in the Monadnock Region, the Lake SunapeeRegion and at times in the American Southwest or in Italy. I startedpainting in college, where I took many art history classes. I was immediatelydrawn to the Twentieth Century Masters and their abstracted work, and myearliest paintings were large
black and white abstracts. I continue to paintabstracted landscapes, the figure and non-
objective compositions".
"My art focuses on the joyful energy oflife in nature and on the continuum of time:
beginnings and endings,rejuvenation, connections between Earth and universe and the
mystery of spirit. Mywork is a combined creative energy of mind, spirit & environment".
Please explain your commitment to the arts in theMonadnock Region.
I have committed my time to the arts in theMonadnock Region and in New Hampshire. I
served on the Executive Committee ofthe Friends of the Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery as
Membership Chair for fiveyears. I volunteered on the Fine Arts Gallery Committee at Sharon
Arts Centerfor 4 years. I am a member of Monadnock Art-Dublin Art Colony and show my
workon their October Art Tour.
Are you a collaborative artist? How so? How do you workwith artists and arts
related organizations?
I founded the Pastel Society of New Hampshirein 2004 and served as the organization’s
first President. I was an Incorporatorof the Jaffrey Civic Center for 5 years. I have curated
contemporary artists groupexhibitions at the Jaffrey Civic Center. The next exhibit, starting
May 26, willinclude eight artists and is titled, Continuum:Variations on a Theme. I have also
curated exhibits of my students’ work atthe NHIA Sharon Arts Gallery in Peterborough. I
presented an original one-act play inConcord for the Friends of the Audi “Page to Stage”
series. In 2014 I wrote aone-act play for Theatre Kapow’s “24 Hour Play Festival” at the
StockbridgeTheatre in Derry NH.
What is your vision for the arts in the Region and thesurrounding regions? And,
NH/VT for that matter?! How will you work to makethat happen?
I would like to see an emphasis on connections betweencommercial venues and local
artists. I believe that these connections canbenefit everyone. An example could be that The
Colonial Theatre host a “Page toStage” session of several weeks, or a 24-Hour Play
Festival, allowing localplaywrights and screen play writers, directors and actors to present
new work.