Barbara Gothard, artist of the exhibit Contradictions – Bringing the Past Forward, will be giving a gallery talk walkthrough of the exhibit at the San Bernardino County Museum on Saturday, Mar. 5, 2022 from 2 to 3 p.m., and available for questions between 1 and 4 p.m. the same day.
From modest Illinois roots, Gothard aspires to tap into her creative potential with a contemporary art form known for exploring the subconscious mind. She lives, works, and is influenced by the ever-changing colors and majesty of the desert in the Palm Springs/Mojave Desert area. The desert is a soft, malleable, and metamorphic environment surrounded by majestic mountains awash in brilliant colors.
The exhibit is a research-based multimedia arts and humanities project consisting of mixed media installation works, and interprets the plight of early 20th century African American homesteaders in the Mojave Desert. The series focuses on the homesteaders’ stories and the contradictions of Gothard’s own desert-lived experience.
While searching for information on a different topic, Gothard discovered a Daily Bulletin article by journalist Joe Blackstock, by chance also a County Museum volunteer, about African American homesteaders which included an ad from the 1910 Los Angeles Herald. In response to this 1910 newspaper ad specifically recruiting “colored” homesteaders, 23 families became western settlers in far eastern San Bernardino County. This article became the impetus for Gothard’s project, Contradictions – Bringing the Past Forward.
Contradictions – Bringing the Past Forward is made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of National Endowment for the Humanities and is funded in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency. The exhibit is proudly sponsored by Loma Linda University Health.
The San Bernardino County Museum’s exhibits of regional, cultural and natural history and the Museum’s other exciting events and programs reflect the effort by the Board of Supervisors to achieve the Countywide Vision by celebrating arts, culture, and education in the county, creating quality of life for residents and visitors. The San Bernardino County Museum is located at 2024 Orange Tree Lane, at the California Street exit from Interstate 10 in Redlands. The museum is open Tuesdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. General admission is $10 (adult), $8 (military or senior), $7 (student), and $5 (child ages 5 to 12). Children under five and Museum Association members are admitted free. Parking is free. For more information, visit https://museum.sbcounty.gov/. The museum is accessible to persons with disabilities.