Barbara Bouman Jay

Having had the unique experience of spending childhood freely roaming the open sands of a beach environment and post college years in Sub-Saharan West Africa and crossing the Sahara Desert, I continue to be inspired by the vastness of open spaces and the beauty of natural surroundings, resulting in my non-representational works.

During my college years, while studying sociology and art at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida, I encountered the powerful influence of the 60’s abstract artists which greatly influenced my thinking and my art. I graduated with a BA in Sociology, then continued studies in studio art and art education, completing requirements for a secondary art teaching credential. In 1973, I began a three-year travel odyssey, working and studying in Iceland, England and Germany and West Africa.  Traveling throughout sub-Saharan West Africa and crossing the Sahara Desert with my husband, composer/musician Stephen Jay, inner drives and external influences resulted in cultural explorations and the challenges of survival. An appreciation and excitement of living in exotic places gave me a unique perspective of life, which I consider to be integral to my art. An emerging direction to my work began.

Upon returning to Florida in 1976, as a high school teacher and community college instructor in the arts, I taught a variety of subjects and also began exhibiting my art works. In 1983, I moved to Southern California with my family. Continuing to teach and acting as department chair for two additional years, I balanced teaching, creating and exhibiting art.  In 1987, I made the decision to pursue the profession of artist on a full-time basis.

In 1990, after many years of working alone in my home studio, I purchased a Takach etching press with a 40”x72” bed and opened a print making/painting studio where I worked and taught for 14 years. In late 2004, my husband and I purchased a ranch north of Los Angeles in the San Emigdio Mountains and Los Padres National Forest where his recording studio and my art studio are now located. This move has further influenced my aesthetic in terms of balance and space and color, spontaneity and order. Here I continue to be dedicated to the process of creating works that support spontaneous creative expression, inventing and reinventing methods of working that fulfill my needs as an artist.

As a working printmaker and painter exhibiting regularly across the United States, I have shown in more than 400 juried group shows, nationally attended art fairs and festivals. Solo exhibits have taken place in museum, gallery, and college venues. My work has received numerous awards and is held in numerous private collections, corporate, and permanent city collections.