Barbara Schneider

Artist Statement: Barbara Schneider

Artist Spotlight: Barbra Schneider Explores Renewal Through Nature in Emergence 3 – Rebirth

Artist Barbra Schneider finds inspiration in the remarkable ability of nature to renew itself. Her work featured in Emergence 3– Rebirth explores the cycles of destruction, decay, transformation and regeneration found within prairies and forests.

Schneider is particularly drawn to the prairie burn—an event that can initially appear destructive but is essential to the landscape’s renewal. Heat helps release seeds, ash returns nutrients to the soil, and fire clears the way for new growth. She finds a similar story in fallen trees, which become “nurse logs,” providing nourishment and shelter for mosses, fungi, plants and new trees.

“These natural cycles have become a metaphor for renewal and have deeply influenced my work,” Schneider explains.

Her process begins with photographs of prairie and forest landscapes, which she transforms through stitching, tearing, painting and burning. Large-scale photographic textiles are physically altered, while sculptural works incorporate heat-sensitive fabrics and stitched elements representing mosses and emerging growth.

Fire becomes both material and metaphor.

“The burning is both a literal and symbolic part of the work,” Schneider says. “Fire changes the material, but it also represents transformation—the destruction that can make way for something new.”

Schneider’s creative process is highly experimental. She often works in a series, allowing each piece to influence the next as she discovers new ways to manipulate materials and communicate an idea.

Her connection to the theme of rebirth also extends beyond the natural world. Art has provided Schneider with a way to work through grief, loss and life transitions, sometimes becoming a means of honoring people she has lost.

“There is something comforting to me about the idea that loss does not necessarily mean an ending,” she says. “Just as a fallen tree becomes nourishment for new life, our experiences—including the painful ones—can become part of what allows us to grow and transform.”

For Schneider, rebirth does not mean returning to who we once were.

“It is not about becoming the person we were before; it is about allowing ourselves to become someone new,” she explains. “Sometimes grief, loss and difficult experiences can feel as though they have burned us to the ground. Yet, like the prairie, we can eventually begin to grow again.”

Through her work in Emergence 3– Rebirth, Schneider hopes viewers will reflect on the fragility, resilience and interconnectedness of the natural environment—and perhaps take a closer look at the cycles of renewal occurring in the prairies, forests and conservation areas surrounding them.