Fisher College of Business

Good News
higher resolution 75Kb

Painted wood construction, 86" x 25" x 5"
Career Services
Waiting Room 158

Barbara Chavous is an artist, teacher, and advocate for the arts. She was one of four Americans awarded a 1990 artist exchange residence in Shaanxi, China, in a project co-sponsored by the Ohio Arts Council and the Chinese government. In 1985 she was awarded a site-specific work for the Atlanta Arts Festival by the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1989 she received the Ohio Governor's Special Recognition. Her work is represented in the collection of the Columbus Museum of Art.

The greatest influences on my work are from African art, as well as Northwest coast Native American art. The art and philosophies of these different world cultures have impacted my life and work. Blues, jazz, and the rhythms of the world also inspire me, as well as the writings of women such as Alice Walker, Ntozake Shange, and Zora Neale Hurston. For a number of years now I have explored the totem form in my work. Good News is one such totem. I believe that every culture has a totem form(s) that connects earth and sky. The elements of earth and sky are reflected in my totems.