Barbara Fedeler

The land has long been an inspiration to Barbara Fedeler. The hills and prairies she witnessed and traversed throughout her childhood in northeastern Iowa continue to permeate the landscape drawings she creates today. Using willow charcoal as her medium she is able to achieve an exceptionally nuanced gradation of dark and light that allows for both sweeping views and great detail to be depicted. Fedeler’s images are often panoramic scenes of rolling hills and prairies that have a horizontal movement in their portrayal and treat the masses of land with lightness and a sculptural quality. By building up the charcoal and selectively removing certain tones of the charcoal, she is able to bring her view of the land into an artistic reality. Fedeler has her B.F.A. from Drake University and an M.F.A. from the University of Arizona. She has been a Professor of Art at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa since 2000. Fedeler’s art has been in exhibitions throughout Iowa and western United States. She was most recently an Artist in Residence at the Hubbell Trading Post through the National Park Service. Fedeler continues to be fascinated by the landscape that has formed her world since childhood and hopes to bring a sense of the beauty of the land to viewers through her graceful depictions and help them to reconnect with the landscape that surrounds them.