Barbara Valles Hayes was born in Madrid, Spain. Her training in art and art history began as a child. At age twelve she was admitted into the drawing program at Escuela de Artes y Oficios in Madrid. Her training includes studies at Academia de Bellas Artes de Madrid, Kensington & Chelsea College in London. Her passion for travel and the ancient Native American cultures inspired her to take the leap to the American continent, where she continued her studies at Arizona State University. In her mixed media paintings, drawings, three-dimensional works, Valles Hayes uses organic shapes, natural materials, abstraction, and various compositional effects to establish an anatomy of organization over chaos.
Her work begins at a point of chaos, and evolves through a process that might involve layering, fragmentation, adding structure or creating an organized context for the organic. In other works the opposite happens: it starts with a well-established imprint, and evolves into an organic composition.
She draws her inspiration from ancient cultures and ethnic spiritual belief such as the Dogon belief of creation, the Navajo practical belief of dreams, and ancient philosophy such as Plato’s Allegory of the Cave…The works slowly unfold, allowing for contemplation through experience, reflection, and perception, evoking the idea that meaning lives uniquely in each viewer. ATA, 992 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA (20th and Valencia) ####
