bari wieselman schulman has always been thinking and doing differently — a creative and analytical mashup, bari is a modern abstract painter and mixed-media artist obsessed with language, color, and the meaningful dialogue created between artist, artwork, and audience.
chicago-born and rooted in madrid, bari received undergraduate degrees in psychology and spanish from the university of rochester and a phd in psychology from the university of chicago and spent years in the design world working at the intersection of people, brands, and products. her background in language and behavior provides a unique window into the relationships between humans, objects, and spaces, and is a critical frame of reference for her work.
always a creative and a creator, she eventually shifted from design to dedicate herself fully to her artwork, founding her studio, rethinkreframe, with her husband, james, after a pivotal shift in her thinking — the realization that her divergent mind was not a vulnerability but a strength. the formalization of her practice as an artist (and her studio as an object in the world) enables her to articulate an infinitely flexible space in which she can freely create (anything) and connect with those who seek out the bold, the vivid, the colorful, the evocative, the thought-provoking, the dialogic, the extraordinary…
bari has shown her work nationally and abroad with saatchi's the other art fair, rostrum | 312, sergio gomez, the martin, atelier, west end gallery, madewell, the art center highland park, peninsula art center, artsugar, and woman made gallery, and received a minted independent artist day jury prize award. her work and creative journey were most recently featured in sheridan road magazine, art & artist and she is the art center highland park’s first breakthrough artist-in-residence.
bari + james are pretty sure they first met at overnight camp at the ages of 11 + 12. the artist + writer (+ lapsed behavioral scientist) and designer + chef + maker love to talk over each other (loudly) about food, fútbol, fashion, family, and what time they’re going to work out. addicted to travel and living abroad, baseball hats and shoes, legos, and (did we already mention?) food, they are always working on something together.
jb + their two kids are currently thinking + doing differently in chicago (mostly). in their high-intensity house there’s always music playing, non-stop activity in the kitchen, deep discussions about books and language, and at least three people talking at once. and that’s the way they like it.