An exceptional wood sculptor, Barbara Spring's career began in 1935 in her native England where she studied at the Gravesend School of Art in Kent and the Central School of Art in London. Her exhibits in this country span from 1962 to present.

Barbara Spring died at the age of 94, still actively working at the studio she built in 1972 next to her home in Big Sur. "Barbara is Magic," says Greg Hawthorne of the Hawthorne Gallery, where much of her work is exhibited. "She can give an ordinary face so much emotion."

And although she pokes fun at the human frailties of her characters, their pettiness, self-importance and self-doubt, Spring's gentle sense of humor makes them sympathetically engaging. Her keen observation of human nature and genius for creating the subtlest nuances are further enhanced by punning titles like "Major Faupar" and "Upton O'Goode".