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"For many years I looked for someone I could look up to. I

met many artists whose work impressed me but I

could never say, ‘I want to be just like her.’ Barbara, I had always admired her tapestries, but when I met her, I knew that she is the one whose footsteps I want

to follow. - Monique Lehman

Barbara explains: "the ‘Cover Ups’ portion of the exhibition, while originally conceived to probe human nature on a psychological level, has unfortunately become politically relevant as well. I ask how we judge people when we cannot see their faces to make eye contact (when we cannot SEE them). I have striven to belie the cultural stereotypical interpretation of the costume through the figure's body language, so that we question our assumptions of what we know of the individual beneath the clothing. The series arose out of my "millennium piece," a tapestry in which two figures in radiation suits are seen walking through a devastated landscape. They seem invulnerable to the dangers they have created and take no responsibility for the environment. This led me to wonder how our clothing affects our attitudes and, from that, how it affects the attitudes of others to ourselves. I have no answers - I want to make people think about their own unspoken assumptions."

" ‘Revelations,’ an ongoing series of small format tapestries based on the correspondences between the microcosm and the macrocosm, between galaxies and flowers and, in future work, brain scans. Again, I am concerned with how we care, or do not care, for our environment. If we could see the connections, we could better find our place in the universe and take responsibility."

An article appeared in Artichoke's special craft edition #2, the fall issue, on the recent series: "Barbara Heller – The Cover-Up Tapestries" by Bettina Matzkuhn. Visit www.artichoke.ca Artichoke Publishing, #208 – 901 Jervis Street, Vancouver B.C., V6E 2B6

Barbara's work can be seen at www.simonpatrich.com, Simon Patrich Gallery, 2329 Granville Street, Vancouver B.C, Tel: 604-733-2662.