{"id":29225,"date":"2017-04-06T05:38:47","date_gmt":"2017-04-06T09:38:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/huntsville.dopperonline.ca\/?p=29225"},"modified":"2018-10-01T13:10:38","modified_gmt":"2018-10-01T17:10:38","slug":"stitched-sewn-meet-barb-hartwick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/stitched-sewn-meet-barb-hartwick\/","title":{"rendered":"Stitched and sewn: Meet Barb Hartwick"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every week, I will be profiling an extraordinary human being who lives in our community. If you know someone who is doing something interesting with their life, I want to hear about it. Send me an email at laura.maclean@doppleronline.ca<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Willy Wonka photos courtesy of Jon Snelson<\/em><\/p>\n

Barb Hartwick once made a dress out of a cargo parachute that showered an audience with real rose petals. She made one that blows up into a blueberry, too. She also created a caterpillar puppet that transforms from a cocoon into a butterfly to stimulate the minds of people who are recovering from brain injuries.<\/p>\n

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That’s the kind of stuff that feeds her soul. Being able to express herself through her creativity gives her the same satisfaction as it would for any kind of artist. It always has.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just comes natural to me,\u201d says Barb. \u201cIt’s something I really enjoy. It’s funny because my siblings are engineers and scientists and it’s kind of like I’m the odd man out. But my dad’s an architect and my mom paints so I guess that’s where I get it from.\u201d<\/p>\n

She will tell you her job as a seamstress\/costume designer and a rehab therapist for Brainworks is \u201ca circle that works.\u201d When she’s not designing a far-out costume for a hit stage production, she’s helping people who have acquired a brain injury rediscover their creative side. She’s found a satisfying balance between the two, and as hectic as life can sometimes be, she wouldn’t be able give up what she’s doing for anything. Her ability to \u201cgo crazy with her creativity\u201d helps offset the emotional costs that can sometimes come with helping those who are suffering from the trauma of a brain injury.<\/p>\n

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Barb snips some colourful material in a work space she’s lucky to have in her beautiful Huntsville home. As a young girl, she used to make clothes for her Barbie dolls.<\/p><\/div>\n

She’s imaginative and has an eye for colour, detail, texture and patterns and that’s definitely reflective in the costumes she’s designed for plays and stage productions locally and abroad. Eleven years ago, Barb had a taste of the big league when she did her first show for Lucent Dossier in Los Angeles. Describing it as a cirque-style, avant-garde show, her unique style was a perfect fit for the LA vibe. She’s been on 42nd<\/sup> and Broadway in New York. Her work has been featured in the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. In fact, the dress she made that showered an audience with rose petals was actually for a GRAMMYs after party back in 2010. She also did a season of costume designing with Guild’s Festival Theatre Company in Toronto a few years ago, but most of her work is done right here in her hometown.<\/p>\n

The closer I get to the big entertainment industry, the farther away from Huntsville I feel. When you get down to the nitty-gritty, we’re all dedicated to our craft. We’re all the same. We’re all artists. We like to create and share what we’ve done and hope that people like it. It’s when you start losing your own voice and perspective when it comes to your art that the vibe starts to gets weird.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She’s been the lead costume designer for the last three musicals at the Algonquin Theatre, including Ten!<\/i>, The Drowsy Chaperone<\/i> and the theatre’s current stage production of R<\/em>oald Dahl’s Willy Wonka<\/i> (which runs until April 9). Her one-of-a-kind creations never go unnoticed. She’s built up a name and reputation for herself, and not just around town. A lot of heart goes into her work. It’s not hard to tell. She’s an artist and her passion is evident. Barb definitely has something special her going on.<\/p>\n\n\t\t