Barbara Gibson Sold at Auction Prices

b. 1971 -

ILLUSTRATOR / COLLAGE MAKER

I was born in Warsaw in 1971. After quitting my Accounting Departament Manager position in accountancy I dedicated 25 years of my life to I began expressing my creativity in street and urban photography. I graduated from Warsaw School of Photography and Graphic Design in 2013. Turning point in my life and career happened in 2014 soon after I moved in to Birmingham, UK. It is where my studio is based now.

Over the last four years I have invested a great deal of time to develop new techniques and practices I started applying to photographs. It is how my journey in Illustration and Collage making began.

My process is thoughtful, deliberate, and intuitive. I allow time for playing with the placement of cut outs and items I use so I can enjoy the process and know when to walk away if I see the artwork being complete. I use vintage images from mid-twentieth century magazines to create socially engaged pieces. The majority of my art is made out of overlooked pieces of paper, old letters, images, documents or parts of other ephemera. All this creates an opportunity to give new life to items that might otherwise be thrown out and totally forgotten.

My expressive art has gained a great deal of recognition. I have had a number of interesting and reputable clients, and have also had the opportunity to work on a range of projects. My most recent commissions include bespoke artwork created for HSBC Bank as well as series of collages for Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

I was also a finalist of the Birmingham Design Festival ‘Forward Thinking’ competition in 2018 and consequently joined the exhibition with my artwork.