My art is who I am, how I feel. It’s the sum of all my experiences.

Remembering Barbara (Bärbel) Hannelore Hartmann Boldt
July 29, 1930 - March 3, 2026

Bärbel Hannelore was born on July 29, 1930 on the outskirts of Mülheim-Ruhr, Germany, to Rolf and Marie-Luise Hartmann, the second oldest of five children. She lived on a parcel of land called Stiegenhof with her paternal grandparents nearby. It was an idyllic world of beauty, safety and love. She inherited a natural talent for painting and honed that talent over many years of paying attention to the intricacies and beauty of nature.

When World War II was declared in September 1939 Bärbel’s father kissed the family goodbye and went to war. She was only nine. By 1941 the bombing near their home was so severe that Bärbel and her classmates were sent to Czechoslovakia to a camp. She lived there with other children throughout her adolescence, away from her parents and her siblings. When the family was finally all reunited in late 1945 their lives were marked by poverty and hunger. At 15 Bärbel finished high school and went to work at whatever jobs she could find.

In 1952 her family emigrated to Canada, first settling in Sherbrooke, QC and then in Vancouver, BC. While working at Simpson Sears, Barbara met Peter Boldt and was married in 1953. Within 5 years they had three children and enjoyed life in an old heritage home outside Nelson, on the shore of Kootenay Lake. With a change in employment for Peter, the family moved in 1969 to Port Coquitlam.

In 1975, at the age of 45 under the instruction of the late Aeron McBryde, Barbara began painting. There was a history of art in her family, and she began to feel the responsibility to honour that. Barbara and Peter later divorced in 1980, but remained as friends and loving parents and grandparents, until Peter’s passing in 2022.

Once Barbara settled into Fort Langley as her home, she began sharing her art and became a well-known artist in the community. Her first gallery was just over Fort Langley’s railway tracks. The more time she devoted to her painting, the more space she required to display her growing bounty of work. She moved into several different storefronts, each more spacious than the others.

Barbara had endured much hardship in her early life during the war, and in her later years she relied on those experiences to meet the challenges of making it financially on her own as an artist and painting instructor. Two particular events that marked her life and that of her family during this period were the sudden death in 1991 of her son, Ken, and then the year-long suffering and subsequent death of her daughter Dorothy in 2000. Immersing herself in her art and the support of her family and many friends within the local art community helped Barbara through these trying times.

Barbara had a deep love of the natural world and was an explorer in her own right. She searched for the meaning of her life in all that she saw in nature; she understood that deep connections in nature. In her art classes, Barbara encouraged each of her students to paint from their heart, and to honour how they saw the world, which was her own lifelong and dedicated practice. She encouraged originality, and her warmth and good humour made her classes full of spirit and joy. She showed her students that, even in times of grief and sadness, art can help to heal and bring life back into their creative work. With the losses in her own life, Barbara’s courageous spirit never gave up.

Barbara wanted to connect with other artists and so inspired a group of local artists to display their works for the community. This connection grew into The Fort Langley Artists Group (FLAG), and aligned with her personal goals of providing more opportunity for people to understand the importance of art and personal expression.

Through her 47 years as a full-time artist and instructor, Barbara became an accomplished and prolific painter, particularly of the Pacific West Coast with its sculpted sandstone and arbutus trees, its rustic shores and abundant flowering trees and plants. To her, beauty was everywhere and she longed to paint what she noticed.

By the time K. Jane Watt published Barbara’s biography Places of Her Heart in January 2012 she had painted over 1600 oils, pastels and watercolours in addition to hundreds of personal watercolour cards to family and friends. Barbara was adamant that each of her works no matter how significant or how small and personal, remain as a singular, original piece of art. This is something she took great pride in, that those purchasing or being gifted one of her paintings, cards, etc. were receiving a true one of a kind “Barbara Boldt original”.

Barbara lived in her Glen Valley home surrounded by her beloved maples and rhododendrons’ until after her 91st birthday. In her last years she needed physical support and was gifted with wonderful doctors and care givers in several Seniors homes in Langley. She passed gently at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3 with the sounds of “I love you” ringing in her ears.

Barbara is survived by 3 of her siblings…older brother Erich Hartmann, younger brother Ulrich Hartmann, and younger sister Erika Bradley, and leaves behind a family who loved her dearly: her son Mike & daughter in law Lisa; daughter in law Kelly and husband Larry; grandchildren Jacqueline, Corynne, Curtis, Jason, Gordon, & Kenton and their spouses; 10 great-grandchildren; and many nieces, nephews, and dear friends who’ve all played important roles in Barbara’s journey through life, and as an artist.

SERVICE:

A Celebration of the life of Barbara Boldt will be held on Friday, April 3 at 2 p.m. in the Fort Langley Community Hall.

All those who knew Barbara are invited to attend. RSVP’s to boldtfamily1930@gmail.com will be greatly appreciated. 

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that those wishing to commemorate Barbara’s legacy, make a donation to a local organization of choice that supports the passions that were closest to Barbara’s heart…art in all forms, and the preservation of the beauty of nature that surrounds us.

Barbara will be greatly missed by her family and all who knew her.