BIOGRAPHY
Born in Wichita, Kansas, USA on February 7, 1959, Deborah Barr holds a Masters of Fine Art Degree from San Jose State University and a BA from Mills College where she studied with Hung Liu. She has held exhibitions of her work in the USA; Colombia, South America; Nairobi, Africa and Moscow, Russia. Monaco, France, Madrid Spain and Luxembourg.
Barr draws on her interest in anthropology and the worlds spiritual and cultural traditions.
Barr has taught art at Colombia College, Merced College, San Jose State University, and is a full time Professor at Modesto Junior College in California, USA. She teaches Beginning Painting, Advanced Painting, Mural painting, Basic Drawing, Figure Drawing, Art Appreciation and Color & Design.
CV
EDUCATION
2001 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN – New York, NY – Mural Scholarship/training
1998 MASTER OF FINE ART; Painting, San Jose State University- Academic Honors
1995 BACCALAUREATE DEGREE; Painting, Mills College, Oakland, Ca. Academic Honors
1991 AA DEGREE – Fine Arts, Las Positas College, Livermore, Ca. Academic Honors
*****Gallery Representation – Monat Gallery Calle Alcala. 16 28014.
Madrid Spain
***** Gallery Representation – Galeria Azur Berlin, Germany
2022 Luxembourg Art Fair – Monat Gallery Representing, Sept 16-18
2021 Monaco Art Fair – Monat Gallery representing MONACO,
FRANCE Aug 28-29-30
2021-2022 – Monat Gallery representation. REMEMBER –
MADRID, SPAIN Aug 19 – Sept 30
2022 Carnegie Arts Center – Two person 250 N. Broadway, Turlock, CA
Jan 13 – March 14
2021 SOLO – BREAKING BOUNDRIES – Modesto Junior College – 435 College Ave Modesto, CA. Oct 11- Nov 5
2019 SOLO – Feb – April- Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Drysdale Properties – Livermore
2013 – SOLO – California State University Stan- Ten Feet Under and Upside Down – Turlock, CA -Aug 26, – Oct 18,
2013 – Modesto Art Museum – Wonderwall April 1 -May 31, Modesto Ca.
2003 – Stanford University – Stanford, Ca. – July – Sept
2001 – Colombia College – Solo exhibition – Colombia, Ca. Sept
2001 – Merced College – Solo exhibition – Merced, Ca. – April -May
1999 – Centro Colombiano Americano, Medellin, Colombia,
SOUTH AMERICA- Feb. 10 – Mar 13
1998 – French Cultural Center, Nairobi, Kenya AFRICA Jan 12 – 23,
1997 – Danville Fine Arts Gallery, Front Street Danville, Ca.
Jan 11 – Feb. 22,
1996 – Phoenix Cultural Center, Moscow, RUSSIA Nov. 1 – 26, 1996
STATEMENT
Dreads are popular and yet often seen as negative in American culture. But around the world young women and men adorn them in colors, decorate them with beads and have extensions added to their own hair. Dreads and braids are highly functional – but their historical roots run very deep, and tell fascinating social, spiritual, and geopolitical stories. It is a way to express ones identity, culturally and or personally. The first archaeological record goes back to Egypt, where ancient mummies were discovered with dreads still intact. I have noticed through social media around the world, that some young people are reclaiming an ancient identity. Dreads represent a timeless connection to the past, through culture(s) and spiritual practice(s), beyond race, ideology or gender. My work reflects GEN-Z’s fascination with an ancient multicultural expression.
Art is another means of helping people see and better understand the dynamics of our world and how human consciousness impacts it at every level. One part of my body of work includes abstraction and tiny lines of chaos that are meant to convey the state of our world today.
I am exploring the psychological disjunction in our contemporary life caused by its fast pace and rapid changes. The youth of today have too much information, they struggle to keep their personal and/or cultural identity and try to make sense of reality.
Collectively we seek meaning. I think that Herman Melville puts it beautifully when he says: “We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results.”
Deborah Barr 2022
