Introduction to Dan Barfield
Barfield was born in Savannah, Georgia, on April 15 1945.
He grew up wild and free in the sun and silence of the South Carolina and Georgia salt marshes, Palmetto jungles, and Live Oak hammocks. There, at an early age, he developed a deep spirituality and a reverence for all living things, and a sense of the magic and mystery of life.
"I hated school! It was a prison for me! Actually, I didn't -'work and play well'- with the other children. I guess I was always sort of an outcast. A loner," he recalls.
After dropping out of high school at 16, and after a short stint as a merchant seaman, he returned to college.
He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Georgia, and a Master of Fine Arts from Savannah College of Art and Design.
In 1967 he enlisted in the U.S. Army and volunteered for Vietnam. He served as a rifleman with the First Cavalry Division until being wounded in the left leg and right arm.
Following his medical discharge he returned to Graduate school on the G.I. Bill and V.A. disability compensation. He earned a Master of Arts in English Literature, a Master of Science in Psychology, and a Master of Education in both English and Art.
Career
Daniel Barfield is an enigma, quicksilver; you can not understand him without understanding his paintings. He has taught in public schools, Colleges and Universities and he has worked as a blacksmith, a carpenter, a roofer, and on shrimp boats. He has lived in tin-roofed shacks in Belize and Costa Rica, and his paintings have been shown with critical acclaim in Europe, Asia, and the United States.
"It's been a gypsy life. I guess I've always been searching for something.... Every time I think I've found a safe harbor, the anchor begins to drag and I end up on the rocks again. The only constant in my life has been these paintings. They represent the only truths that I know." -Dan Barfield, 1999
Dan Barfield in his own words
Painting #1 by Dan Barfie"My paintings are religious at their deepest level, but it is a wild and earth-based religion. While I do not consider myself a Christian particularly, Christian imagery is apparent everywhere in my paintings. Groupings of 3 (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) are very common.
Water is a constant, and often used in an obvious baptismal ritual.
The sun, which is actually a Shaman's circle, is my symbol for the Deity (note: symbol. Not a sun god. A symbol, just as the Christian cross, or fish, is a symbol.)
But my Madonna is not some cold and untouched virgin. She is a warm and soft and round woman, very sensual and ultimatly human. The fetus -life- grows in her exposed womb.
Nubile and sexually excited Nyiads dance in the sun, and ancestoral figures (bird-like men) with huge erections guard this fertile and wild Eden. Strange musicians play music, the language of the soul, and all life moves to their rythum without regard for the laws of man, of nature, or of gravity.
A solitary figure drifts alone in a red boat, casting his net into this swerling Eden. Only he is alone. All other life is coupled. Is he Adam after the Expulsion? ...Is he you? ...Is he me?
All paintings are self-portraits of the artist. All we need is the key to unlock them.thers of it's own kind. He drifts alone, isolated, a part of this world, but forever fated to be apart." -Dan Barfield, 1999
Writing
Crossing Fences (A Novel)
Crossing Fences' a novel by M.D. Barfield
All his life Billy has been groomed to follow his father's family tradition of joining the prestigious Atlanta law firm established by his grandfather. This is not the life he wants, but he has never been strong enough to defy family tradition. Now he is caught between two worlds, the moneyed world of Atlanta and the 'New South,' and the more traditional world of Savannah and the Low Country. As we move through the story, we meet Molly, a teenage temptress. Cindy, who has been emotionally and sexually abused. Cap Green, Billy's maternal grandfather who is a section foreman on the Atlantic Coast Line railroad. His grandmother, who is wise in the ways of herbal healing. Aaron, Billy's best friend from childhood who has just been accepted to medical school and proves in a red neck bar fight that no one calls him a dirty Jew. Sam Crammer, Molly's father who has always adored his daughter and swears the one who has “put the devil in her.” Mary Agnes, Molly’s mother, who sends the devil straight to hell with a double- barreled shotgun. Johnny Raintree, who makes whiskey, and lives with an everchanging parade of young girls he calls cousins. Linda, the Atlanta girl from the 'right' family Billy is expected to marry. Philip, who if ever a man needed killing, he does. The culture, mores, and ethics of the “new south” contrasted to those of Savannah and the Low Country, a touch of voodoo, and a little of the Gullah culture.
Desperation Tango: The Cruise of the Sunrise - A Novel)
'Desperation Tango: The Cruise of the Sunrise' a novel by M.D. Barfield
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Farm raised shrimp from Asia have driven the prices of wild caught shrimp down. Three bad winters followed by hot and dry summers have decimated the wild population. Now the Department of Natural Resources has closed the season to give the wild population time to recover. For the last three years Jack has gotten by on a meager catch and savings, but now the savings are gone. When his friend and fellow shrimper, captain Barns, suggest that they go to the southern Caribbean and work the international waters off Venezuela, he turns him down. “To many crazy people with guns, and no law. Between the Cubans, the drug runners, and plain old pirates out of Jamaica and Haiti that place is a war zone.” Now, faced with losing everything he and his wife have built, and unable to support his family, he agrees. This begins a voyage into hell that is sold as paradise in the tourist brochures and cruise ship advertisements. As they move further south Jack realizes that one misstep and you lose everything. A man will do anything necessary to protect and support his family and way of life, even murder.
Reaching for the Golden Ring (A novel)
'Reaching for the Golden Ring' a novel by M.D. Barfield
“We’re all on some insane merry-go-round, reaching for the golden ring. Grab it when you can.”The year is nineteen sixty-seven in a west Georgia mill and military town. The country is being torn apart by race riots and antiwar demonstrations. The specter of being drafted is a dark shadow on every one’s life. Can two people, a twenty-four-year-old teacher, and a seventeen-year-old former student, build something good and beautiful from the chaos? Will they be strong enough to hold on to it through the brutality of a year in Vietnam and the guilt of a backwoods southern religion?
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