Barbara Allen Frost

Small Dish Metal Enamel $40	Metal Enamel Bowls Various Sizes Metal Enamel $40 - $200
Green Plate 11" Diameter Metal Enamel $200	Blue Plate 11" diameter Metal Enamel $200

Barbara Frost began working in metal enameling around six years ago when she first took evening classes at the Cultural Arts Center here in Columbus. She quickly recognized that this was a medium she had a special affinity for, combining her love of the color spectrum with both actual and visual surface textures and abstract designs. As a registered architect with her own firm, these are attributes she knows well.

As a beginning enamelist, she started with very small projects but has evolved into a producer of larger works as her skills grew. The purchase of her own large kiln in 2003 allowed her to pursue her ambitions while developing her own techniques and color palettes.

Attending numerous enameling conferences has given her a great appreciation for the enameling traditions that have been established since the mid 1950’s. Meeting some of the world’s best enamelists has encouraged her greatly, and she enjoys the compatibility she feels with them.

Enameling itself is a process of applying finely ground colored glass to a metal (copper) base and fusing it at approximately 1500 degrees F for 2-5 minutes for each layer. All items have multiple layers on each side, which take time to develop. Many of Barbara’s pieces have a natural organic simplicity to them which coordinate well with today’s interiors. While her bowls, pictures and jewelry have been shown and sold at the Cultural Arts Center gift shop for several years, she has recently started to exhibit and sell in other venues. She has been featured in the Lancaster Festival’s Art Walk, and won an award from the Ohio Designers Craftsmen for one of her bowls in the professional division of the Ohio State Fair Fine Arts Exhibit.

Barbara and her husband, Chuck Ashton, have lived in Westerville for over 25 years and have one son, Mateus who is 21. She is currently teaching the evening enameling classes at the Cultural Arts Center and truly loves passing on her enameling experience to the students and helping them develop their creativity and their enameling skills. In her very minimum “other spare time” she and her husband love to drive around the countryside in their bright blue Mini Cooper S with other like-minded Mini owners.