Santa Monica resident Barbara Vogelsang has taken her lifelong love of fashion to a new level of fun. You can’t help but smile when confronted with her colorful and quirky three-dimensional works of art. Whether constructing flowers, trees, or the human form, her soft sculptures are “larger than life” in every sense of the term.

​

She works with high-quality natural materials, such as silk and cotton fabrics and handmade paper, to transform the appearance of everyday objects.  “I use my energy to make my environment more exciting,” Vogelsang says. Her love of color, sense of humor, and playful nature are all evident in the work she installed in her own homes, first in Brookline and now in Boston, – from the silk palm tree on her porch to her re-creation of a 1950s era hair salon. “I created more and more of my fantasy world, which many others have come to enjoy with me,” she explains.

​

Even after living more than 30 years in the Northeast, Vogelsang says that she still does not understand why people in northern cities like Boston don’t share her passion for color. “Why are people in warmer climates more open to colors?” she asks.

Vogelsang has a degree in fashion design, and has also studied sculpture, surface design and papermaking. Her work has been exhibited in various parts of the U.S. and in her native Germany.