"The value of art to us should be that it is the greatest key we have to the understandi ng of one another" John Rood

Barbara Melnik Carson

Figurative sculpture

My passion for creating began in childhood growing up in   Southwest Detroit. With limited art resources, in my early work I improvised using objects found in the neighborhood. Working with intuitive and outsider artists during my career in mental health provided a creative surge. Yet, something was always missing. Traveling to Italy, France, Costa Rica, Russia, Ukraine, Slovenia helped me to understand themes of her youth. Today, my sculptural clay and mixed media works grow from personal insights linked to broader issues.

Artist Bio

To quote from Sculptor John Rood‘s artist statement:  "I have come to the making of art that has no other purpose than to delight the human spirit; to appeal to our sense of order yet without any message other than that we are human, that we are alive, that only the human being can create a work of art with the imperfections of any hand-made thing which imperfection is basic to man himself."