Ivan Barnett opens his first exhibit in three years with a new group of garden sculptures. Influenced by 18th and 19th century weathervanes, these signature works blend the folk tradition of his native Pennsylvania with strong, contemporary design. Recognized as one of the first modern American craft artists to revive and interpret traditional American folk forms, Barnett is one of the few living artists represented in the permanent collection of Santa Fe's Museum of International Folk Art.

These newest sculptures are compositions of stylized symbols, human and animal forms, cut from fine gauged, oxidized steel. When creating this work, Barnett hand cuts his shapes and arranges them in layers, building up assemblages, or collages. He then paints them using specially mixed pigments. The texture and rich color of the rusted metal impart a grainy, warm tone to the color, lending these works an aged, weathered quality. These sculptures suggest the folk art of an earlier era, except that they are fresher, spun in an exciting, distinctly contemporary way.

Since graduating from the Philadelphia College of Art more than thirty years ago, Ivan Barnett has devoted his life to craft and art, as an artist, furniture designer and writer. As a gallery owner, he is engaged in a new kind of collaboration of a different kind. Ivan and his wife Allison opened Patina Gallery in 1999. Located in the heart of Santa Fe's museum district, Patina is dedicated to the exhibition of an international roster of museum caliber artists working in contemporary craft and art jewelry. Patina is widely considered one of this country's premier venues for fine craft.