Artist Statement

I trained as a visual artist and was an arts educator for many years. My background includes presenting my artwork in exhibitions, festivals, conferences and symposia within the Atlantic region, Canada and internationally. My beginnings as an artist were in sculpture and installation, and this has broadened into an expanded field that includes walking-based performances, community art events and group projects, many of them as a member of a collaborative group, Narratives in Space+Time Society (http://www.narrativesinspaceandtime.ca). My interests are in artmaking that opens possibilities for new interpretations of histories, stories, institutions, and social justice. My work is grounded in my experience, while connecting to the larger world around me. The images shown here are from an ongoing walking and writing project entitled "Corona Walker", which started during the pandemic. It centres on the figure of a young woman from Dartmouth who lived from 1870-1889. See coronaiwalker on Instagram for more images and news about this project.

Biography

Barbara Lounder lives and makes art in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. She holds a BFA from Queen’s University and an MFA from NSCAD. Her work has been presented in galleries and festivals in Canada, the US, England, Finland, Germany, Bulgaria, Poland and New Zealand. She has been an artist in residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts, Open Studio in Toronto, Full Tilt in McIvers NL, and the Kommandantenhaus in Dilsberg, Germany. The recipient of many arts and scholarly awards and grants, Lounder is a founding member of the Halifax artists’ cooperative gallery Hermes, and of the research creation collaborative group Narratives in Space and Time Society (NiSTS). Art works by Barbara Lounder are in private collections, and in the Canada Council Art Bank, the Arts Nova Scotia Art Bank, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Carleton University Art Gallery, Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery, and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Art Acquisition for the Valued Assets Program, Government of Canada. In addition to her studio practice, Lounder publishes and speaks on topics related to contemporary art, walking and other aspects of mobility, social activism and art education.