"Histanai" is literally about the tension between the natural and the industrial environment. (It is Greek and is the root from which the word stasis has evolved.) Metaphorically, it is the point where something has the potential to become something else or to disappear. It's a symbolic representation of change. Over the last hundred years, the natural and the industrial/mechanical have been in a state of dynamic equilibrium. Some say that we have destroyed this equilibrium and that there is no chance now to restore the natural balance of the earth.

This piece is about our natural selves, symbolized by the image of the leaf, in the process of being absorbed by our mechanical environment. It is either in the process of dissolving or in the process of forming. The leaf is ephemeral but also strong and vibrant. The mechanical environment is intricate and compelling. In this image they are balanced and coexisting-, in fact they complement each other. They are at a point of balance but if the balance shifts, the leaf may be absorbed by its mechanistic environment.

Since the Industrial Revolution the role of technology in our lives has steadily become subtle and complex because new technologies are ubiquitous and insidious. Scientists are currently developing "nanotechnology," using organic materials, which might in the future become part of our bodies. What is real and what is virtual? Will we retain our power, vitality and consciousness, as the "mechanical" becomes even more an integral part of our lives?

Barbara Robertson received a MFA in printmaking from the University of Washington. She has taught at the University of Washington , Pratt Fine Arts Center and was collections assistant at the Seattle Art Museum. Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions including: The Transferred Image: New Directions in Printmaking,Phinney Center Gallery, Seattle and the Aiwa Gallery, Nagoya, Japan. Her solo exhibitions include such venues as the Miriam Perlman Gallery, Chicago; Margo Jacabsen Gallery, Portland; and Davidson Galleries, Seattle.

Robertson's work is included in numerous public and private collections including: the IBM Corporation, the City of Seattle, and AT&T. She is an active printmaking teacher in the Seattle area including the University of Washington (adjunct).