TORONTO, ON, September 22, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Barbara McGivern has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Since first studying fine and experimental art in the '80s, Ms. McGivern has become a celebrated abstractionist artist best known for her desert-inspired series, "Extraordinary Journey." In her artists' statement, she has a stated aim, to "...create an explosion of energy, to generate an electric shock to the senses that awakens the uninhibited childlike freedom that is within us all but has perhaps been lying dormant." Ms. McGivern has one other claim to fame, that of using real gold leaf in her artwork, regarding it as just another color in her pallet. In an interview dated July 2011 for PRLog, Ms. McGivern considers "...there are many paintings out there with layers of gold under them...but you cannot melt the gold down as it is so fine and wafer thin....but I could never use anything else but real gold."
Ms. McGivern is a Toronto native, and her art was first recognized at the age of five. During the '70s, she traveled through Europe, and became a member of the Arts Club in London, as well as the Mayfair and the Chelsea Arts Club. For a time, Ms. McGivern offered her talents to Columbia Pictures Television, but when they stopped producing television programs, she established her own studio in downtown Toronto. Ms. McGivern was inspired by English artist Beryl Cook, and studied with Ontario College of Art and Design under Canadian artists like Graham Coughtry and Jack Cassidy. She later worked with Eric Fischl and Susan Rothenberg at Georgian College, in Barrie, Ontario.
After graduating with a degree in experimental arts with honors from the Ontario College of Art and Design, she returned to Europe, this time to Russia for the impressionist Matisse and to see Fernando Botero in Moscow. Ms. McGivern was inspired by the masterpieces of the Barnes Collection at the Musee D'Orsay in Paris. These pieces fueled her passion to create, and Ms. Mc Givern was exhibited in galleries throughout Toronto, Montreal, and Edmonton, in addition to Dubai, Zurich, Berlin, London, Paris and Madrid. Her work has been commissioned by such luminary companies as Swarovski Crystal, UNESCO, and many fine firms from Dubai. In addition to her London affiliations, Ms. McGivern is a member of the Society of Canadian Artists.
A mark of Ms. McGivern's artwork is the use of real gold leaf squares. "Extraordinary Journeys" was inspired by a real extraordinary journey she took following British adventurer Wilfred Theisgner's camel route through Oman. In an interview for Khaleej Times in 2005, she describes the sun hitting the sand as her inspiration for the series. Currently, Ms. McGivern has ongoing exhibitions with the Opera Gallery in Dubai, the Lando Fine Art in Edmonton, Alberta in Canada, and the Studio 217C, Toronto. To browse Ms. McGivern's art, please visit bmcgivern.com, or visit her on social media with Twitter @Babs506, as BarbaraMcGivern4905 on Instagram, and as Barbara McGivern on Facebook.
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America , Marquis Who's Who has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Today, Who's Who in America remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.
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