Art thrives within The Fountains as a new exhibit opens

MILLBROOK — Wintry breezes did not deter residents and friends from gathering at The Fountains on Thursday, Feb. 20, to be inspired and instructed by a retrospective showing of etchings created by Fountains resident Barbara Minton.

About 14 etchings, a woodblock and a painting were on display, created over a lifetime, Minton said, each an exploration of architectural and natural components.

“She treats architecture as organics,” said Jeff McCord, Minton’s son visiting from Seattle for the occasion.

Minton grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee, daughter of an architect, surrounded by the natural grandeur of the Great Smoky Mountains. Both environments informed her art. As a child, she and her four siblings engaged constantly in drawing, developing a lifetime of passion for the arts.

“All the kids drew,” she recalled, noting that they would use the reverse side of discarded blueprint paper provided by their architect father.

Minton studied etching with Latvian printmaker Janis Sternbergs, moving on to post-graduate work at London’s Slade School of Art, before earning an MFA degree in printmaking and art history at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.

Celebrating the opening with Minton was her artist friend, Merle Perlmutter, with whom she shared studio space in New Rochelle.
“We’re very different, Barbara and I, but we took to each other,” observed Perlmutter of their different backgrounds. “We had fun.”
Open to the public, the exhibit will remain up for three to four weeks, said Ellen O’Shea, art instructor at The Fountains.

To learn more about Minton’s art, go to www.barbaraminton.com.