Sean Barnes

Sean Barnes’ richly textured assemblage paintings, sculptures, and drawings represent topographies of the human condition and the natural world conveying aspects of mixing ecologies. Barnes draws inspiration from ecological theory, environmental philosophy, literature, and archeology to generate artifacts suggestive of a post-human era – evidence of an epoch of global, environmental human impact. As an artist and instructor, Barnes believes in the relational power of communicating through the arts with material, imagery and a strong personal narrative. He has experience teaching many learning levels from primary to postsecondary education. Living as an artist and working as an adjunct instructor and artist in residence in remote village schools in South West Alaska, developed his sensibilities for working with communities outside of his own culture. In the classroom, studio or in the community, Barnes seeks to foster a dialogic learning environment rooted in a constructivist approach where education is a building practice based on student life experience brought to the classroom generating a ‘learning to learn’ experience.