Sylvana Barrett
United States, UNITED STATES
Artist, Lecturer and Historian on the topic of Historic Artist's Materials and Techniques
Biography
Artist Sylvana Barrett has made a career of searching out the sumptuous materials of historic paintings, of learning to use them through historic treatises left by the artists themselves and producing original works with them. A frequent museum lecturer and workshop leader she has made it a personal mission to share this knowledge and these beautiful materials with artists and art lovers alike.
In addition to lecturing and producing museum didactics for exhibition, she has been featured in the award wining film produced by the J. Paul Getty Museum “The Making Of A Spanish Polychrome Sculpture” as well as in a National Geographic’s Television production “How It Was: Secrets of Mona Lisa”.
Recent speaking engagements include a TEDx event where she spoke on the topic of looking at paintings through the eyes of the artists who created them. Current projects in production include an illustrated, chapter by chapter, visual guide to the fourteenth century artist’s manual by Cennino Cennini, “IL Libro dell’ Arte”.
Videos:
1. TEDx
Semi precious stones ground finely into powders, colorful rare earths, gossamer leaves of hammered gold and silver, these are the materials used by painters in the past; these are the materials that draw us into museums to gaze in awe at their works today. Artist/Historian Sylvana Barrett has made a career of searching out these sumptuous materials, of learning to use them through historic treatises left by the artists themselves and producing original works with them.
In her Talk, Sylvana shares her knowledge of these beautiful materials, helping us experience "art" from an entirely new perspective.
2. Getty Museum Production
Seventeenth-century Spanish polychrome sculpture was intended to appear as lifelike as possible. Compared to bronze or marble statues, sculpted and painted wooden figures--often with glass eyes and wigs--achieve a remarkable realistic effect.
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