Barbara Franc

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As a sculptor Barbara continually enjoys playing with different media and exploring what they can do for her. She will often get the gem of an idea for a new piece by just picking up a piece of discarded metal, for example, a jam jar lid might turn into a flower head or part of a cat! She might have scarps of lead sheet, which she will start to ‘stitch’ together and they start to transform into the idea of making a corset out of this soft, malleable metal.

Barbara enjoys working with different gauges of wire and wire netting as they respond very directly and immediately to your ideas and it becomes like drawing in three dimensions. She will work on the form first without a rigid armature supporting the wire; this gives her a greater freedom to change the posture of the sculpture and keep it feeling alive. When she has decided on how she wants the sculpture to stand, she will then thread in a stiffer wire for support and to become the armature. Barbara can emphasise certain lines with the use of resin and different gauges of wire, some pieces she leaves in their metallic finish and others she colours using enamel or clear plastic glass paints.

Most of the pieces are suitable for outdoors when they are made with galvanised wire or metals such as brass, aluminium and lead.