Artwork copyright Barbara Noah. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Deep Pool, 1990

Barbara Noah
American (born 1949)

Location: Sultan High School, Sultan

About the Artwork

Deep Pool is a print by artist Barbara Noah, composed by mixing and matching different photo images. It is part of a body of artworks that investigate our reflex to see a face with human features, even in disconnected images. She notes that this piece “contains an image of potential fertilization (top photo, which here becomes hair), water, the place where all life began (middle photo or eyes), and the ring nebula (bottom photo, a symbol of the cosmos or Big Bang, here a mouth). Taken as a whole, they represent birth and life, mortality and infinity. The title Deep Pool refers to the gene pool, to water-related imagery (taking plunges, wishing wells, etc.), and to the vastness (depth) of life and experience.”

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Sultan School District.

About the Artist

Seattle-based mixed-media artist Barbara Noah creates conceptual artworks, including photographs, sculptures and paintings.
Noah has taught art at national colleges and universities, including Cornish College of the Arts and the University of Washington, both in Seattle. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Art from Mills College in Oakland, California and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. Noah received the 2011 Twining Humber Award for lifetime artistic achievement.