Barbara Heller
Barbara Heller spent many years exploring the fields of painting, print making and fabric arts, before deciding to devote herself full time to tapestry. She has exhibited widely over the past twenty-five years, locally, nationally, and internationally. Her tapestries have been featured in several books and the subject of magazine and newspaper articles. In the summer of 2005, she published Cover Ups and Revelations: the Tapestries of Barbara Heller, available through her studio, the Fibre Art Studio on Granville Island, Vancouver, which is open to the public.
Ms. Heller has organized exhibitions and symposia, written articles and given lectures, edited publications and curated exhibitions. She has represented Canada overseas at symposia and conferences and has lectured on the place of Canadian tapestry in the world. As well she has lectured on her own work, often in conjunction with exhibitions and with teaching workshops. She was the Canadian correspondent for the International Tapestry Journal and sat on the Board of the American Tapestry Alliance for 8 years. Currently she is an ATA volunteer. She founded the B.C. Society of Tapestry Artists, a non-profit society for the promotion of tapestry, which organizes exhibitions and lectures. She is also the founder of the Canadian Tapestry Network and co-editor of the group's newsletter.
Ms. Heller is a passionate proponent of the art of tapestry and of the place of tapestry in contemporary applied art.
For a list of exhibitions at public institutions featuring Barbara Heller's works, click here
New Guinea Mudman - The Cover Up Series
35 in x 25 in
tapestry
$12000 CDN
Doubt
The dancing's running late;
I have to wait alone;
When I'm in this state
They think I'm in some mystic zone
Communing with the Fates
And Furies of the infinite unknown.
The Sun is getting low, My time will soon be here;
One staff-length to go
'Til shadows cloak the sacred clearing
To begin the show
Of summoning another rainy year.
Heat rises from the clay.
I'm sweating in the shade;
The makeup takes all day
And very soon will drip away;
Yet none will dare to say
I'm not the great Creator, Ipile.
I hold the key
To every mystery,
From curing snake bite to eternity
I am the guide
Who's seen the other side,
Where all our souls and gods reside.
But I am not so sure I've really been
Where this world ends and other worlds begin.
Am I possessed?
Have I been truly blessed?
Are all these incantations meaningless?
Some days it feels
Like there's nothing to reveal
And I am just performing for my meals,
Repeating sounds of practiced ecstasy
Made up by men who lived in doubt, like me.
We all do what we must;
We have our part to play.
If no one's here but us
We're still together in our ancient way
Protected by our trust,
Connected by the homage that we pay.
Surgeon - The Cover Up Series
35 in x 25 in
tapestry
$12000 CDN
Medicine Man
I'm alone now.
My scoured body is draped and ready
Like a sacrifice to an Aztec god.
Minions scurry round in faceless silence,
Making no contact, preparing for the ceremony.
Why won't he acknowledge me?
Why hide behind the mask? - oh, I forget:
He must protect himself from me;
I am dangerous to him, even as I lie
Immobile as a corpse on this narrow, padded slab.
Is he imagining the motions
He must make, step by step,
The bloody path he must follow?
Or squinting at the memory of someone's
Full-bodied hair swirling on the adjacent pillow?
In this place he is my rock and my salvation
And the last man I may ever see,
Floating above me, surprising as an angel.
Is this what God's gatekeeper is like;
Indifferently awaiting the next supplicant in line?
He will carry out the task with
Impassive efficiency, with robotic precision,
Then step back, arms folded, and wait again.
I will see him afterwards, his halo gone,
Smiling automatically from above;
And we will part, never having truly met.
The Herald
49 in x 39.5 in
tapestry
$16000 CDN
The Herald
Come and hear the trumpets singing
For the fallen and the wise;
Light the torches of beginnings
Floating far beyond the skies.
Reach around our darkest shadows;
Rise so far we see the light;
Fly above the hills and hollows
Of the now-translucent night.
Lift each brother to the promise
Of our never ending tale;
Tell each wizened soul and novice
Time is naught and space is frail.
Claim your place in song and laughter;
Cleanse away the fog of fear;
We live on forever after;
Eternity is always here.
The Shaman
50 in x 32 in
tapestry
$16000 CDN
Following the gallery showing, this work will be on display at a Juried National Exhibition of works by Canada’s Craft Community at the Canadian Pavilion, Cheongju International Biennale, South Korea until November 1, 2009. Subsequently, the work will be touring Canada throughout 2010.
Dance
Dance your feathers, Shaman;
Dance ecstatic madness for our mad ecstasy.
Dance a frenzied fire, unprotected.
Forever dance the dance,
For all of us
Who heed the call.
Overwhelm our grieving;
Fortify our failings and scatter all our fears;
Free our hopes from their capricious futures;
Embalm our memories
In honey’s dew,
In God’s own shawl.
Dance for foolish mortals;
Dance for loss undimmed by remorse or drug or sleep.
Dance for our redemption in your madness;
Foretell all sorrow’s end,
In Heaven’s light,
For all our souls.
Dance your death away, Shaman,
For all of us.
Red Poppy
21.25 in x 20.5 in
tapestry
$4300
The Apple of God's Eye
20.5 in x 20.75 in
tapestry
$4300
Bride - The Cover Up Series
35 in x 25 in
tapestry
$12000 CDN
Habibi
55 in x 46 in
tapestry
$25300 CDN
Ozymandias
62 in x 66 in
tapestry
$40920 CDN
People bury land mines and then people bury the victims of land mines. What are we doing to our world and what are we doing to each other?
Wail For Our Brothers
Wail for our brothers, my brothers;
Cry bitter tears in the sun and the rain;
Choke on the tears of our mothers;
Howl at the horror of Abel and Cain
Re-played again and again and again
Whimper and plead for our daughters;
Mourn for the fathers and sons we can save.
We are not spared from the slaughter;
Evil will find us in condos and caves;
Measure us all for the shroud and the grave.
Madness envelops the planet;
Mercy is buried alive;
Seize all the guns and the hatchets;
Stand in the way if you hope to survive.
No more refined declarations;
No more inviting the butchers to dine;
No more rehearsed lamentations;
No more pretending we’re all deaf and blind.
Turn to the funeral pyres;
See what your eyes won’t believe;
Witness the blood and the fires;
Cradle your babies and grieve.
Touch the cold face of your lover;
Feel yourself dying alone.
We are entwined in each other;
Everyone’s death is our own.
French Foreign Legionnaires - The Cover Up Series
35 in x 27 in
tapestry
$12000 CDN
Bamboo
40.75 in x 32.75 in
tapestry
Canadian Klansman - The Cover Up Series
35 in x 25 in
tapestry
$12000 CDN
School Crossing Guard - The Cover Up Series
35 in x 25 in
tapestry
$12000 CDN
War Zones: Bosnia
12.5 in x 24 in
tapestry
$4100 CDN
War Zones: Somalia
24 in x 12.5 in
tapestry
$4100 CDN
War Zones: Rwanda
12.5 in x 24 in
tapestry
$4100 CDN
Hella Ophelia
61 in x 44 in
tapestry
$26800 CDN
Passing Shadow
60 in x 49 in
tapestry
$29400 CDN
The Hebrew reads, "We are like a breath, our days are as passing shadows"
Right of Passage
46 in x 60 in
tapestry
$27600 CDN
The Last Resort
49 in x 61 in
tapestry
$29900 CDN
Don's Rose
17 in x 17 in
tapestry
$2900 USD
Good Bird / Bad Bird I
17 in x 20 in
tapestry
$4700 CDN
Good Bird / Bad Bird II
17 in x 20 in
tapestry
$4700 CDN
Bokhara Algorithm (detail)
37 in x 24 in
tapestry
$12000 CDN
Bokhara Algorithm
37 in x 24 in
tapestry
$12000 CDN
Kilim Algorithm
37 in x 24 in
tapestry
$12000 CDN
Kilim Algorithm (detail)
37 in x 24 in
tapestry
$12000 CDN
Heat Map Algorithm
37 in x 24 in
tapestry
$12000 CDN
Ikat Algorithm
37 in x 24 in
tapestry
$12000 CDN
Future Relic - Kilim
10 in x 7 in
tapestry
$750 CDN
Future Relic - Flower
10 in x 7 in
tapestry
$750 CDN
Future Relic - Flames
10 in x 7 in
tapestry
$750 CDN
Future Relic - Africa
10 in x 7 in
tapestry
$750 CDN
Future Relic - Turkey
10 in x 7 in
tapestry
$750 CDN
Bryce Canyon
36 in x 36 in
tapestry
$13000 CDN
