Fearlessly Artistic

Barbara Jamison is a powerhouse. Even if you only have a passing interest in the local art scene on the Highlands-Cashiers Plateau, you have likely seen her work. If you are a fan of The Bascom in Highlands, you have benefitted from her passion for art as she is a featured artist and serves on the board. But she has not always been an artist by trade. Barbara Jamison took art history in college and loved it, but she first tackled the business world.

Her corporate career took her from New York to Italy and then to London. She quickly learned that to show any trepidation at all could hold her back — and Barbara Jamison is not one to be held back. While she commanded boardrooms, she had the luxury of living in some of the most artistic places in the world. She was all over Italy for a time, and while she likely savored the pasta and wine, it was taking in the museums and galleries in her free time that meant the most to her. “Living in Italy changed my color palette, too,” says Jamison, who jokes she was among the first to paint her living room mustard yellow when she returned to the United States.

Of course, while she lived in London, there was no shortage of art museums to immerse herself in and no lack of culture in which to indulge. Undoubtedly, anywhere in Europe is a great place to be for someone who is passionate about art — but for someone with an artist’s soul, there is only so long you can look at someone else’s art without creating your own. That push to create was bubbling to the surface for Jamison.

After her family moved back to the United States in the early 2000s, at age 50, she could no longer deny her soul’s desire, and she enrolled in an art class. Many people might think it would be difficult to transition from working analytically to artistically, but Barbara doesn’t cower to fear or difficulty. “I’ve always had to be fearless. I tend not to do things that are easy. I do things that are hard,” says Jamison. “A characteristic of what I do is I experiment to the hilt. I have no fears.”

Her artistic style has steadily evolved since approaching her very first canvas. But there is a constant to her work: nature. Barbara loves to go on long walks around these mountains she calls home, collecting mica, mosses and fern fronds from her property and using them in her work to create subtle hints of this place she loves. She sits at the base of local waterfalls and watches how the light hits, taking note of all the little ecosystems that dot the larger landscape and how, as time passes, the sun’s changing position changes the entire scene.

While at her canvas — which might be found flat on a table, on the floor or on her deck — Barbara is like a mad scientist with her liquified acrylic paints, which float on a thin layer of water. Nearby, the various instruments she uses to manipulate them. “When painting a waterfall, 35-40 layers of translucent paint delicately suggest the graceful and powerful movement of water, each layer building upon the last to create depth and complexity,” says Jamison.

As you stand in front of one of her stunning waterfall paintings, first take in the painting as a whole and be mesmerized. Then let your gaze travel and hone in on the little details she’s added. A dusting of mica here, a tiny splash of gold leaf there. A whisper of an impression of a fern in the corner, perhaps. A bit of moss is enmeshed on the canvas, creating a unique texture. You cannot help but run your fingertips over it, which Jamison gleefully encourages. As your eyes and fingertips move over the canvas, notice that your perspective shifts, and so does the painting. It is subtle, but it is there. And the eye’s journey starts again.

To take in an artist’s work is to look inside an intimate window into their soul. Looking at Barbara Jamison’s work, it is easy to see a woman who sees the world on a different level and notices all the microscopic details that make our world beautiful. She is a woman who is as vibrant as her paintings and delights in taking risks. “When I was in business, I was a senior woman in an environment where there were not a lot of women. I had to be strong. I had to be willing to try things, to go for it and not hold myself back. That whole ethos is what propels me right through my life.”

You can see Barbara’s work all over the Highlands-Cashiers Plateau, visit her studio at 285 Catesby Trail in Cashiers or view her work online at BarbaraJamisonPaintings.com.