Skowhegan Executive Director, Program: 1984 - 1996
Barbara Lapcek (1933 - 2024)
Barbara was born on November 4, 1933 in Yonkers, New York. A graduate of Barnard College, she moved to Kampala, Uganda in the early 1960s and immersed herself in the country’s cultural scene. While in Uganda, she founded the Nommo Gallery, the first art gallery in East Africa, and served as a correspondent for The People Newspaper.
Upon returning to the United States, Barbara worked at Hospital Audiences Inc, which provides cultural access within health and social service facilities in New York State; as Director of The Creative Artists Public Service Program which offers fellowships to individual creative artists in New York State; and Executive Director of Musica Sacra. Her longest and most beloved role was as Executive Director of Program at Skowhegan.
Barbara received important accolades and recognition during her lifetime, including Woman of the Year from the Uganda History Society (1967); Service to the Arts Award from the Maine Art Dealers Association (1990); the Skowhegan Governors’ Award for Outstanding Service to Artists (2018); and the International Community of Banyakigezi Award of Excellence for contribution to Arts in Uganda (2019).
As Executive Director of Program for 12 years, Barbara was one of Skowhegan’s longest serving directors and her visionary work set the school on a course that was more inclusive, more expansive in its thinking, and more able to support artists.
“Barbara's first year was 1985, the year I was a participant. She was an extraordinarily devoted leader who brought many transformative ambitions to her position. Perhaps her strongest contribution to Skowhegan was seeing to it that the school kept growing and evolving along with the concurrent changes in the contemporary art world....Barbara was also an advocate for the issues of diversity among faculty and participants alike, long before it was the norm to think in those terms. She also dealt masterfully with problem solving on individual and collective matters. She brought people together and saw to it that no individual or group felt left out or alienated in any way.”
– Skowhegan Governor, Whitfield Lovell (A ‘85, F ‘01, ‘02, ‘05)
“Ever since I’ve met Barbara in 1990, she stayed in my heart. She was a mother-like figure to so many artists like me who was just starting my journey of explore the possibility of being an artist. She was not only running the Skowhegan School’s program as a director but xa cared about each of the artists, understood what we are trying to do and was always there to support. Such as suddenly showing up to the opening or be there whenever, wherever was just one of her usual things. I have received countless kindness from her. It is impossible to express enough gratitude. She kept giving so many artists who are lucky enough to came across to her life. My heart goes out to her surviving family. Thank you and we continue to keep her in our heart.”
– Kazumi Tanaka (A ‘90)
“She was an amazing person. Knew how the artists' mind worked creatively. Created an atmosphere of nurture and support. No matter how diverse and crazy we were.”
– Linda Kim (A ‘92)
“Skowhegan, or “Art Heaven”, (as I dubbed it), was an extraordinary place and experience for me and all the artists there at that time, and Barbara Lapcek was vital in constructing the magical and essential experience there. She was a devoted art supporter and she recognized the profound importance of art as an indispensable component of life. In a world that rarely supports or values the creative pursuits of artists, Barbara exuded an unwavering belief in our personal quests as developing artists.
She was instrumental in creating a world- on the shores of beautiful Lake Wesserunsett, where art was valued and central, where we lived and breathed art and found “our people”, and where, for once, it all made sense. She was instrumental in setting up healthy boundaries where the commercial realms of the art world were held distant so that each individual’s creative endeavors were centered. She helped construct a place where lasting friendships were formed, friends who, in turn, would go on to serve as a crucial support structure, and who understood each other’s commitment, against all odds, when returning to the harsher realities of being an artist in this world. Barbara’s positive and spirited being, her contagious smile, her unwavering belief in art and artists, and her absolute conviction to molding this special place where art mattered beyond the complicatedness of the commercial aspects was a true and treasured gift.
Thank you Barbara! I will never forget the importance that you and Skowhegan played in my life.”
– Amy Podmore (A ‘86)
“I had the great pleasure of meeting her many years ago. Beautiful remembrance.”
– Donna Marie McNeil
“I met her at Skowhegan as a student from San Francisco Art Institute in 1990. She was a wonderful person. She has this great vibe. Peace and Thank you.”
– Evri Kwong (A ‘90)
“You are definitely a woman of the world and a blessing, and may your spirit grow and all of us. Just reading this makes me wanna dig a little deeper. My time at Skowhegan was in the 60s but, thank you for all you did.”
- Mike Henderson (A ‘68)
“Barbara Lapcek was someone that I adored. We were very fond of one another. I met her during my short teaching stay at Skowhegan, but we continued to see her for the next twenty years or so. After she retired, she would organize dinners primarily in Chinatown where various former teachers at Skowhegan would get together just for pleasure.
After several years of teaching and visiting universities, Skowhegan was the first time that I ever experienced an active commitment to diversity. I think Barbara understood the importance of it from her own life experiences. There was little evidence of any attempt of inclusion in art departments in most of America at that time, and for a very long time after. I think if you look at the amount of wonderful artists that attended Skowhegan, you will also see a great intersection of people from her time and after her time.”
- KiKi Smith (F ‘93)
“My first day at Skowhegan, my mother died. Barbara rallied people together and made sure I had a plane ticket the next morning Home to Buffalo. On the third or fourth day home, she called me… letting me know she had seen to it that I had a private studio, and that my chore would be driver and helper to Bernarda Shahn. She said that while I was under no obligation to return, she thought it would be a magical place of healing and wanted me to seriously consider coming back. I did go back a few days later after the funeral. I can honestly say I had a fantastic summer, which under the circumstances seems quite incredible.”
- Reed Anderson (A ‘94)
“I was asked that summer of 1996 if I was driving alone and directly to Skowhegan from New York City and if so could I take Barbara’s cat? I didn’t really know Barbara and was a bit thrown- worried- like what if I lose the Director’s cat on the way there. I had plans to visit my mom at an eco-village so I declined and arrived that summer as a student of 60.
I remember Barbara as being fluid and graceful- and present yet not overbearing. It was a bit intimidating to go into her office- but usually it was a favor of some kind and then you felt lucky to have been asked. Barbara seemed to some how float above or around the mechanics of the art world or maybe it was simply my naive perspective- this levity gave her freedom and seemingly a health dose of indifference. It was the 50th Anniversary and lawns were being mowed and eyes and interests were everywhere. I remember so fondly an artist/student, Patrick Abbey, in the middle of the night the evening before the board of governors, Trustees, and guests were coming to visit managed to decorate and cover an huge pine tree in the center of the campus with blue and white plastic flowers- a uniformity of plastic lace isolated in nature. I still have one that I found and have included with this letter. It was a beautiful gesture- of marking what was happening - in a bit of a playful yet ironic way. Barbara kept the decorated tree and seemed to smile a bit. She often smiled. She had an ease in life at a time when I remember feeling so uneasy with life.
Barbara treated everyone equally- maybe that was where the grace originates- students, older artists, the staff, visiting artists- I remember her being so sweet with Jacob Lawrence and his wife Gwendolyn Knight- folding them in like family and sharing them with all of us. We were all there to sit together and have a meal so to speak- with the possibility to converse openly.
Our year had a tragedy, surprising at the time, but now maybe seemingly not so unusual sadly. A student attempted suicide. She had cut her wrists and was found sitting at Barbara’s desk in the early morning. Barbara handle the situation with directness and compassion. Her clarity and strength provided all of us the structure to move beyond while allowing the space for each of us to process. Our residency continued but not without reflection- it became a part of our experience and us. We continued to move freely within the campus and outside- building a sweat lodge, participating in the 4th of July town parade as Dolly Parton, purchasing a beat up car and driving in a local demolition derby and burying oneself in a hole neck high in the summer heat with a melting bowl of vanilla ice cream just far enough. There was an awe yet intimidation with Barbara- it was as if she knew- some how had the key- because how could you know so much and see as much and still stay easy. It is a kind of freedom which is hard to come by. I often wish I had given Barbara’s cat a ride that summer.”
- Connie Walsh (A ‘96, ‘01)
Make a donation in memory of Barbara Lapcek here.