Barbara De Wayne Chase was born and raised in Philadelphia, and her artistic endeavors were supported early by her father, as she enrolled in Fletcher Art School at the age of 7. She went on to receive a BFA and PhD from Temple University and a MFA from Yale University.
After 1960, she lived primarily in Paris and married French photo-journalist, Marc Riboud (divorced in 1981). Chase-Riboud works as a writer, poet, and sculptor. Her sculptural work celebrates the fragile contrasting relationships of the materials she uses, and similarly, her work in general ranges from monumental metal sculptures made with a blowtorch, hot knife and molten metal to delicate, contemplative and sensitive works as this one, centered around a peacock feather.
