Meet Veronica Barker-Barzel | Printmaker, painter, and traveler

We had the good fortune of connecting with Veronica Barker-Barzel and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Veronica, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
My studio is open to the public in a rather high tourist visited area. If I bring a smile to a stranger from just looking at my work, I feel like I have accomplished my work for the day. I believe there is a power in healing through art. Most of my art is geared to all ages, not all of it, but most of it. With a sense of the mysterious, bringing out curiosity and thought. I am hoping to create a bridge between the ages and cultures. Why does that cat have a fish tail? Having a studio open to the general public is also a great way to teach, educate people on how and what goes into creating a relief print or a painting.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I have always known that I needed to create art. It has always been such a big part of my everyday being. That it is hard for me to imagine another form of existence. I come from a wonderful household of creatives. My father wrote and played music. My mother was a former opera singer who became a painter. Growing up, I always had paints and brushes at my fingertips. My mom and my grandmother would take me to museums as a small child and have me copy from the greats. I have had a lot of odd jobs over the years to support my art habits. But I knew that I needed to be my own boss and dedicate everything I have to making my art, my brand. Through my art, I want to show how we are all interconnected, and in an altered moment, one could have been born as a gazelle. Has it been easy to run a small business? If it was easy, it probably would not be as much fun as it has been. In the art world, an artist has to be his or her own promoter, creator, and everything else. One has to learn time management, organization of time, from the business side, taxes, promotions, social media, applying for shows, putting proposals together, to the actual creation of the images. And then to also make sure one takes a moment to breathe.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
There are some good hiking places in my area. We have the Shenandoah, we have the Billy Goat Trail closer in. If the weather is good, take a sailboat out on the Chesapeake, or Potomac.

Then there is DC, so much to see there. A nice afternoon walk around the Tidal basin, a great place to see the monuments to Jefferson and FDR… And of course the Smithsonian and all the amazing galleries the city has to offer, like the Phillips collection, or Touchstone Gallery.

For music, there is the Black Cat, or the 9:30 club, both long time staples of DC’s music scene. I also like this little spot called Jojo on U st. Or the Birchmere, on the VA side. Dolan Uyghur Restaurant in DC, is a cosy place to eat.

I think the building that I work in is pretty interesting. Only one like it in the country. There are some similar but not quite like this one. It was a torpedo factory built in the Art Deco style back during WWI and then in 1974 it was turned into an art center that was founded and run by artists, but now the City of Alexandria is running it. It has numerous studios of various different types of art being created in the space.

There is a family owned sushi place I like to go to for lunch called Momo in Old T

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Discover Graphics Atelier, the place that I first learned my craft as a printmaker from Penny Barringer. And my partner Tom Kelly, who has driven the miles with me to participate in various shows and helps with a lot of the behind the curtain stuff, such as framing.

Website: https://www.behance.net/VeroBarkerBarzel

Instagram: jewfroart

Twitter: jewfroart

Youtube: jewfroart

Other: tfpi.org

Image Credits
Artist Photo- Thomas Kelly Jackalope visits Borrego Springs Baba Yaga visits Saint Johnsbury Billy Goat Trail Sheep Abduction Roadtrip photographed by Min Enghauser