Watercolor Artist / Mixed Media 3-D Assemblages
Phone: 228-216-5353
E-mail: BarbaraBrodtmann@att.net
Barbara Brodtmann uses her paintbrush to create impressions of life on the beautiful Mississippi Gulf Coast. She works in layers, often building up as many as forty layers of paint before she feels satisfied that what is looking back at her from the canvas is a reflection of the world as she sees it. The piercing eye of a brown pelican, the flash of brilliant white that is a snowy egret on glistening rocks, or the moss-covered snout of an alligator are all fair game for Brodtmann’s talents.
Born in Michigan and educated at Hillsdale College and Syracuse University, Brodtmann moved to New Orleans in the 1970s and began painting professionally. With a few lulls in her career to attend to children and home life, the artist painted her way along the Gulf to settle in coastal Mississippi. She experimented in several mediums along the way before she eventually narrowed her focus to works executed in watercolor and acrylics and these remain her favorite modes of expression.
Brodtmann also has a long history of teaching art, to both children and adults. Barbara worked in partnership with the City of Bay St. Louis and the Downtown Association over the several years that they were sponsors for the “Beachfront Festival” and she her husband, Woody Brodtmann. and Susan Daigre produced “The Children’s’ Festival”. Through this venue she had the opportunity to teach thousands of children. Working with the community, Brodtmann presented area kids with the opportunity to play musical instruments, learn all forms of art; dancing, painting, printing, and pottery. Barbara continues to teach children painting on a private basis. More recently, she has been teaching adults during her Wine, Women and Watercolor sessions, and her Lunch and a Lesson series as well. The artist also accepts commissions and creates portraits of children and pets for her patrons.
Over the years, Brodtmann has exhibited at several local galleries, including Quarter Moon Gallery, Chessie’s, Blue Skies Gallery, Robards Gallery. Currently Barbara’s work can be seen at Behold and Gallery 220 in Bay Saint Lois , MS and Le Jardin on Royal Strret in New Orleans, LA.