An Artist’s Diverse Career -- From Higher Ed to Hardware to the Canvas

In this week's episode of Career Buzz, join Erica Mattison with Geraldine Barney.

 

Being an artist is central to Geraldine Barney’s identity. Throughout her career she’s discovered the personal importance of developing a creative practice involving a range of media from prints, to paintings, to songs. As she creates, she honours her Indigenous culture and connection to the land where she grew up on a Navajo reservation. 

 

Geraldine’s career has included a wide variety of settings, from higher education to home improvement stores. Her passion for her craft has helped her stay true to herself and her values.

 

In their conversation, Geraldine shares how her art is shaped by her connection to her ancestors, to nature, and to her community.

 

About Geraldine Barney

Geraldine Barney’s artwork explores the relationship between the traditional Navajo values and beliefs she grew up with on the Navajo Reservation in Northwest New Mexico with contemporary city life off the reservation. Living in two cultures is a prominent theme in her art and her music.

Geraldine studied printmaking at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM and at the Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO. Although a printmaker at heart, Geraldine is currently working on a series of landscapes (both real and imagined) that invoke her passion for the land of the Southwest and her connection to the Navajo reservation. 

Geraldine is also a singer and song writer whose work is included in two Smithsonian Folkways CD’s; “Music of New Mexico: Native American Traditions” and “Heartbeat: Voices of First Nations Women”.

 

Follow Geraldine on Instagram at @geral.dine.barney and on Facebook at Gerri Barney.