Gen 3 - Barbara (the beat generation artist)

Barbara, the youngest child of Josephine and Nash, was born in the worst of their poverty. In a shed with no heat, no electricity and no running water, she had the worst possible start in life. Luckily for her, aunt Anna saved the family from their despair when she was very young, and unlike her sisters and brothers, she has no recollection of that poverty. Still it instilled in her a deep dislike of the gaps in society, between those who have and those who have not. 

After a fairly typical teenage life, Barbs aged up to a young woman who wanted to discover life and art. As a lover of all things art, she started university mastering in fine art, together with her musically inclined boyfriend Doug. University was an eye opener, and showed her what life could be like. Free, exciting, different and filled with not just one type of art, but an whole array of artistic expressions. She fell in love with the lifestyle, the new political views, the poetry and writing and new ways to paint. 

She also met her cousin, once removed, Norman Stewart (grandchild of Frank) from Willow Creek, and the three of them; her, Doug and Norm, became a trio who did everything together. After university, the three of them moved to San Sequoia together (to her parents horror), and rented a house with another cousin from Willow Creek; Gordon (also a grandchild of Fran) who already lived and worked there as a painter. The four of them spend most of their days at the nearby art center, where they paint, sculpt, play music and discuss books and politics. They ate there in the evenings and spent their nights drinking and blowing bubbles. Norm was the odd one out. Secretly, he longed for love, for a wife, and a family, though he said nothing of this to the others as he knew they'd scorn something so common. His work at a local bank was bad enough, as the gang rejected the materialistic, and embraced a new way of life. As a result, he left the group in early 1955, moving back home to Newcrest. 

While Doug and Gordon found their expressions early, music for Doug and painting for Gordon, Barbara was still experimenting. She painted, sculpted, acted, danced and made jewellery, still unsure of where to find her own artistic expression, but loving every bit of the experimentation. 




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