STATEMENT & BIO
ARTIST STATEMENT
One of my biggest joys in life is designing a painting. And studying great paintings. I love to paint plein air to get ideas, color studies and source references. I take all this information, plus my memories and feelings about a place, and start coming up with ideas for compositions in the studio. I explore a variety of formats and ideas for placement and size of the elements of the painting. I draw, make notans, value studies and gouaches of my subject. I love preparing to paint and developing an idea fully. It is thrilling to make blobs of paint come alive, evoking the emotions I feel and expressing the soul of a place. I want to create visual poetry. I have no interest in approaching painting like a journalist, needing to record every factual detail I see.
The first time I was consciously aware of Beauty was many years ago. At 17, I was grieving the untimely death of my father. I was anxious and afraid and hid myself in the shade near some roses. I remember fixing my gaze upon a rose. As I focused on that flower, a subtle shift occurred within me. I felt myself settle; I felt like I belonged. The petals of the rose were luminous as sunlight filtered through them. The patterns of light and shadow mesmerized me. I began to see shapes of air between the leaves, and to follow the contours of the rose with my eyes. The rose enchanted me. It embodied Beauty. My grief seemed to have expanded my capacity to perceive it. Paying such close attention to the rose connected me to everything. I felt like we were all One. From then on, I learned that if I can see Beauty, I know everything will be alright.
How did I get started painting?
As a child living outside of Paris, my parents took my brothers and I to the art museums almost every weekend. I think visiting museums gave my brothers a case of “art poisoning”. The art museums provided me with something much more: squirrels. Metaphorical ones, anyway. As squirrels are endlessly fascinating to a dog, paintings are that fascinating to me. And to top it off, I saw paintings by Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Bazille, Millet and Corot, who had all lived in or around Fontainebleau. (I went to school in Fontainebleau, and we lived in Barbizon- in the middle of the King’s Forest.) I saw their paintings of “my” forest and was completely enchanted by how they captured the spirit of my own backyard. That was the first spark.
I studied painting in Aix-en-Provence, France during my junior year in college- taking a break from the Great Books program at St. John’s College. I truly found my North Star that year. I painted in watercolors. (Imagine a student version of Cezanne’s watercolors, no washes, just spots of color in the shadows, leaving the white of the paper to act as the light.) After returning to New Mexico, I enrolled in the University of New Mexico (UNM), to study French, art studio, architecture and got a Master’s in Community and Regional Planning.
Fast forward to working for the City of Albuquerque as an Urban Designer and City Planner and having two beautiful children. With the demands of work and family, I needed a more patient medium to work in. I switched from watercolor to pastels. Pastels are dry. Pastels can handle interruptions (better than I can). I painted “nap time” paintings when the kids took their afternoon rest. I worked exclusively in pastels for over twelve years. I was honored to be a Signature member of the Pastel Society of America and showed my pastels in several galleries across the country.
A change of career saw me follow my passion for teaching, and I joined the faculty of the School of Architecture and Planning at UNM. I developed and taught the pre-requisite program for admission into the architecture school. While teaching, I re-married and had a sweet new baby. I took a yearlong sabbatical from UNM after the death of my mother and started painting in oils. Painting in oils is nothing like pastels. I felt like someone had taken my head off, shaken it, and put it on backwards. I love painting in oils. It has taken every day of the last 20 plus years to learn as much as I have. I have studied with Kevin Macpherson, Ray Roberts and Peggi Kroll Roberts, Jill Carver, John Poon, Kathryn Stats and most of all with Scott Christensen.
A couple of years after my sabbatical, I left teaching at UNM. I enjoyed every minute of teaching studios, but I needed more time to paint. I jumped off the proverbial cliff, leaving the security and benefits of being faculty. Showing continuously in several galleries and having solo shows gave me the confidence to make that leap. I have the heart of an entrepreneur and I managed my husband and my ecological restoration business, restoring rivers and wetlands. We had a large nursery as well. Managing the business allowed me to make my own schedule, and my priority was to create regular uninterrupted time to paint. In those years, my studio time dove-tailed with the schedule of the yellow school bus picking the kids up in the morning and returning them to me late in the afternoon. My Muse had to kick in between those yellow school bus stops, no excuses. I painted zealously for my galleries and for juried exhibitions.
My children are grown and we sold the ecological restoration business years ago. The daily problems I get to solve now are rich visual design challenges in my art. Creating art is the most engaging, compelling and fascinating thing in the world for me to study and practice.
I resonate with this sentiment by Winston Churchill: “When I get to heaven, I mean to spend a considerable portion of my first million years in painting, and so get to the bottom of the subject.” I think I will join him!
SELECTED JURIED AND INVITATIONAL EXHIBITIONS, AWARDS AND HONORS
MEMBERSHIP IN NATIONAL ART ASSOCIATIONS
Signature Member of Oil Painters of America
Signature Member American Impressionist Society
Signature Member of Pastel Society of America
Signature Member of Plein Air Painters of New Mexico, President 2024
Associate Member, Women Artists of the West
2025
Oil Painters of America National Show, Herrig Center for the Arts, Bradenton, Florida (Morning’s First Touch)
American Impressionist National Juried Exhibition, Cassens Fine Art, Hamilton, Montana (Morning Shadows on the Sandias)
Plein Air Painters of New Mexico National Show, Legends of the West Gallery, Santa Fe, NM (Juniper Patterns, Cloudscape)
Exhibitor and QuickDraw Artist at 24th Annual ArtsThrive Exhibition, Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, NM
Invitation to Door County Plein Air Festival, Wisconsin
2024
Winter Light, a Juried Small Works Show, Legends of the West, Santa Fe, NM
Oil Painters of America Western Regional Show, Phippen Art Museum, Prescott AZ., “Morning Shadows on the Sandias”, 16x20 oil
Southwest Award of Excellence, American Impressionist National Show, Rockport Art Association and Museum, Rockport , MA., “Montana Plains”, 16x20 oil
Joe Anna Arnett Memorial Award, Plein Air Painters of New Mexico National Show, Legends of the West Fine Art Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, “Desert Clarity” 11x14 and “The Walking Path” 9x12 (award winner)
Landscape Award of Excellence, Oil Painters of America National Salon Show, James R. Ross Fine Art, Indianapolis, Indiana, “Golden Horizon “, 12x16 oil
American Impressionist Society Small Works Showcase, Anderson Fine Art Gallery, St. Simons Island, Georgia, “Building Clouds”, 12x9, oil
Oil Painters of America 33rd Annual National Juried Exhibition of Traditional Oils, Mark Arts Gallery, Wichita , Kansas, “The Overlook”, 16x20. oil
33rd Annual ArtsThrive,: Art Exhibition and Benefit, Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque , NM
Invitation to Door County Plein Air, Wisconsin
Top 100 Finalist for two paintings, PleinAir Magazine PleinAir Salon, February, 2024 for “Desert Clarity”, 11x14, oil, “Worth the Hike-Louie Lake, 20x16. oil
2023
Honorable Mention, PleinAir Magazine PleinAir Salon, November 2023, “Wyoming Plains”. 16x20, oil
Top 100 Finalist for three paintings, PleinAir Magazine PleinAir Salon, November 2023, “Wyoming Plains”, 16x20, oil, “Pond Up North”, 10x12, oil, “The Pinnacles”, 11x14, oil
Oil Painters of America Western Regional Show, Brushworks Gallery, Salt Lake City , Utah “A Cloud Dance”, 16x20, oil
Plein Air Painters of New Mexico National Show, Legends of the West Gallery, Santa Fe, NM , “The Rise of Dreams”, 10x8, oil
Top 100 Finalist for three paintings, PleinAir Magazine’s Plein Air Salon, July, “A Cloud Dance”, 16x20, oil, “Worth the Hike- Louie Lake”, 20x16, oil, and “Crackling Cold on the Rio Grande”, 12x16, oil
Second Place Overall, PleinAir Magazine’s Plein Air Salon, June for “From the Bridge”, 12x16, oil
Invitational:: Small Works by Master and Signature Artists of Plein Air Painters of New Mexico, Taos Art Museum at Fechin House, Taos, New Mexico
American Impressionist Society Small Works Showcase, District Gallery, Knoxville, Tennessee, “Cliff Faces”, 8x16, oil
American Impressionist Society National Exhibition, Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville Delaware, “Worth the Hike-Louie Lake”, 20x16, oil
Invitation to Door County Plein Air, Wisconsin
33rd Annual ArtsThrive,: Art Exhibition and Benefit, Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque , NM
2022
FASO Artists Websites Award of Distinction, American Impressionist Society National Exhibition, Mary Williams Fine Arts, Boulder, CO Judge Huihan Liu AISM, “Morning Cliffs”, 16x20, oil
Oil Painters of America 31st Annual National Juried Exhibition of Traditional Oils, Steamboat Art Museum, Steamboat Springs, CO, “Raking Light at Ghost Ranch” , 18x24, oil
Plein Air Painters of New Mexico National Exhibition, Wild Sage Gallery, Taos, NM
Plein Air Painters of New Mexico Master and Signature Show at Taos Art Museum at Fechin House, Taos, NM
32nd Annual ArtsThrive,: Art Exhibition and Benefit, Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque , NM
3rd Place Oil/Acrylics, Masterworks, Albuquerque, NM “Still Point”, 16x20
2021
Best of Show, 2021 Plein Air Painters of New Mexico National Show, Sorrel Sky Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, Judge: Jill Carver, “From the Bridge”, 12x16, oil
Award of Excellence, 2021 Oil Painters of America National Salon Show, Quinlan Visual Arts Center, Gainesville, Georgia. Judge: Charles Young Walls OPA, “The Pinnacles”, 11x14, oil
31st Annual ArtsThrive,: Art Exhibition and Benefit, Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque , NM
2020
Oil Painters of America 29th Annual National Juried Exhibition of Traditional Oils, RS Hanna Gallery, Fredericksburg, Texas, “Crackling Cold on the Rio Grande:, 12x16, oil
Oil Painters of America Western Regional Virtual Show, Illume Gallery of Fine Art, St. George, Utah, “A Thousand Faces”, 16x20 oil
Best of Signature Members Award, National Juried Members Exhibition, Plein Air Painters of New Mexico, Wilder Nightingale Gallery, Taos, NM, Judge: Lorenzo Chavez, “Cliff Faces, 8x16, oil
Plein Air Painters of New Mexico’s Taos Plein Air: Juried Members Exhibition, Blumenschein Museum, Taos, NM
30th Annual ArtsThrive: Art Exhibition and Benefit, Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, NM
A Winter Invitational Exhibition, Taos Art Museum at Fechin House, Taos, NM, Plein Air Painters of New Mexico Master and Signature Members
2019
Award of Excellence, Plein Air Painters of New Mexico Small Paintings Juried Show at Taos Art Museum , Fechin Studio, Taos, NM Judge Louis Escobedo, “Tres Pistoles”, 8x10, oil
Figurative Award of Excellence, Plein Air Painters of New Mexico, National Juried Members Exhibition, Santa Fe Art Collectors Gallery, Santa Fe, NM Judge Peggi Kroll Roberts
Honorable Mention, Oil Painters of America Spring Online Showcase,”Raking Light at Ghost Ranch”, 16x20, oil
Oil Painters of America Western Regional Exhibition, Sorrel Sky Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
29th Annual ArtsThrive: Art Exhibition and Benefit, Albuquerque, Museum of Art and History, Albuquerque, NM
2018
Best of Show, Plein Air Painters of New Mexico National Juried Exhibition, Sorrel Sky Gallery, Santa Fe, NM Judge Ray Roberts, “Pond Up North”, 10x12, oil
28th Annual ArtsThrive: Art Exhibition and Benefit, Albuquerque Museum of Art and Art History, Albuquerque, NM. Honored as a Large Format Artist.
Plein Air Painters of New Mexico Signature and Master Signature Invitational Member Show, Taos Art Museum, Fechin Studio, Taos, New Mexico
2017
27th Annual ArtsThrive: Art Exhibition and Benefit, Albuquerque Museum of Art and Art History, Albuquerque, NM
2016
26th Annual Miniatures and More, Albuquerque Museum of Art and Art History, Albuquerque, NM
2014
Oil Painters of America, 23rd Annual National Juried Exhibition of Traditional Oils, Bennington Center for the Arts, Bennington, VT, “Monterey Wharf”, 10x8, oil
2013
Oil Painters of America, National Juried Salon Show of Traditional Oils, Crooked Tree Arts Center, Petoskey, Michigan, “Golden Pond”, 10x12, oil
23rd Annual Miniatures and More, Albuquerque Museum of Art and Art History, Albuquerque, NM
Weekend in the West, Evergreen Fine Art Gallery, Evergreen, CO.
2012
Seascape Award of Excellence, Oil Painters of America, 21st Annual National Juried Exhibition of Traditional Oils, Evergreen Fine Art Gallery, Evergreen, CO, “California Cliffs”, 10x12, oil.
2005
Biennale Internazionale Dell’Arte Contemporanea, Fortezza da Basso, Florence, Italy. This was the fifth annual international exhibition of contemporary art. This was an international invitational show in Florence, Italy.
2000
Jesus 2000, sponsored by the National Catholic Reporter, a worldwide art competition, Schimmel Center for the Arts, Pace University, New York City, NY. This show also went on a national tour to Chicago, Illinois and to Belleville, Illinois.
SOLO SHOWS
2013, Popejoy Hall Solo Show, Benefactors Lounge and Gallery, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
2006, New Space at Paragon Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
2005, Water in the Desert, at Dartmouth Street Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
2004, Liminal Space, Dartmouth Street Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
2003, New Paintings, solo show, Dartmouth Street Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
See Barbara’s full CV here