Bio/Statement/CV
BIO
Barbara Carr is an accomplished painter and printmaker. The artist paints outdoors, year-round, inland and on the coast of New Hampshire and Maine, as well as in her studio, where she also prints her woodcuts.
Barbara was born into an Army family in Boston; she has lived in many states, from Mississippi to Alaska. A constant in the ever-changing scene has been the artist’s connection with nature. She was captivated by Alaska’s rugged terrain, charmed by New Hampshire’s mountains and farmlands, and scorched by 110-degree heat in the south. The oceans, Atlantic and Pacific, have figured prominently in the artist’s experience, from fishing in Alaska’s Resurrection Bay, to swimming at Virginia Beach, to visiting and hiking on Block Island, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Barbara has had close encounters with animals wild and tame, from black widow spiders to black bears. Some of these, along with the more usual dogs and cats, have become subject matter for her paintings and prints.
The artist received her BFA from Massachusetts College of Art, where she majored in painting and illustration. In addition, she studied figure drawing at the Slade School in London. Carr has also studied with Joseph L. C. Santoro, King Coffin, Ron Bowen and Philip Morse. She studied at the Museum of Fine Art in Boston as a teenager. The artist’s main medium is oil, but she also enjoys painting in pastel and watercolor, drawing in charcoal and making original prints, particularly woodcuts.
Barbara Carr is represented by McGowan Fine Art in Concord, New Hampshire. Her woodcuts can be seen in the collections of the Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, Kansas and the University of Kentucky Museum of Art, Lexington, Kentucky. Her paintings and prints are in the collections of the Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, Massachusetts; the Prince School, Boston, Massachusetts, and private collections in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Asia and the Caribbean.
When she isn’t painting outdoors, Barbara Carr lives and works in her home and studio in the woods of Salisbury, New Hampshire.
STATEMENT
Being in the outdoor environment, delighting in the natural world and then painting it, is the epitome of a good day for me. I like to paint experienced things: old farms, factories, construction sites and buildings that have seen a lot of use, including well-loved houses. Another favorite subject matter is water: ocean, lakes, any kind of water, but particularly the coast of Maine, with every kind of added interest from lobster boats to seagulls.
I’ve been painting and drawing outside for decades, from sitting on a rock with my watercolors in art school to using state-of-the-art plein air equipment today, painting with the New Hampshire Plein Air group or the Plein Air Painters of Maine. Back in the studio, I may paint a still life or interior, or carve a woodblock for a woodcut. This is a chance for a more intimate encounter with subject matter as well as a change of pace from the rapidly-shifting light that epitomizes outdoor painting.
For me, art is not as much about self-expression as it is about interpreting the world to myself. Usually, I try to paint what I see, whether it’s with my mind’s eye or with my “real” eyes. There was a time when I wanted to paint in a very realistic manner, almost reproducing the physical look of my subject. Lately, I’m turning more to a more abstract and simplified image in order to understand and capture the essence behind the outward appearance.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2015 Love, Lust & Desire VII, McGowan Fine Art, Concord, NH
2014 In Perfect Harmony, Sahara West Library Art Gallery, Las Vegas, NV
Art Show Open House, Merrimack County Savings Bank, Concord, NH
Be Prepared to Stop, McGowan Fine Art, Concord, NH (4-person show)
2013 Exhibition One, North Shore Arts Asociation, Gloucester, MA
Joining Hands Around the World, Hahndorf Academy, South Australia, Australia
2012 Love, Lust & Desire, McGowan Fine Art, Concord, NH
2011 Relief in Relief, (traveling exhibition) Pacific NW College of Art, Portland OR; Atelier 6000, Bend OR; Artisan Renovations, Beaverton OR; Center for Japanese Studies, Univ of Pretoria, Johannesburg South Africa; Absolute Gallery, Lansing, MI
Love, Lust & Desire, McGowan Fine Art, Concord, NH
Prints of the Year: What’s New in New Hampshire Printmaking, Franklin Pierce Law Center, Concord, NH
2010 Unleashed, McGowan Fine Art, Concord, NH
Spring, KAZA Design Studio, Concord, NH (solo show)
Love, Lust & Desire, McGowan Fine Art, Concord, NH
Prints of the Year: What’s New in New Hampshire Printmaking, Franklin Pierce Law Center, Concord, NH
2009 Southern Summer, Northern Winter Prints, Port Pirie Regional Art Gallery, Port Pirie, South Australia
Grabados Por La Paz (Prints For Peace), Instituto Mexicano Norteamericano, Monterrey, NL, Mexico (juried)
Small Works, Red River Theater, Concord, NH (solo show)
Barnacles, KAZA Design Studio, Concord, NH
Animal Prints, Two Rivers Printmaking Studio, White River Junction, VT
On the Scene, PantanoGallery, Southern NH University, Manchester, NH
Flowers Interpreted, Women’s Caucus for Art, Epsom Public Library, Epsom, NH
Love, Lust & Desire, McGowan Fine Art, Concord, NH
Prints of the Year: What’s New in New Hampshire Printmaking, Franklin Pierce Law Center, Concord, NH
2007 Great and Small: Works on Paper, Barbara Carr & Judy Lampe, SPNHF Conservation Center, Concord, NH
Juried Regional Exhibit, Library Arts Center Gallery, Newport, NH (juried)
Vamos a Grabar! (Let’s Print!), Centre de Arte, Humacao, Puerto Rico
Land on Paper, Two Rivers Printmaking Studio, White River Junction, VT
Natural Beauty, Massabesic Audubon Center, Auburn, NH
Prints of the Year: What’s New in New Hampshire Printmaking, Franklin Pierce Law Center, Concord, NH
2006 Online Protest Show, World Printmakers Online Exhibition
Views of the Village, Canterbury Shaker Village, Canterbury, NH
The Darwin Show, Two Rivers Printmaking Studio, White River Junction, VT
2005 Purely Plein Air, Massabesic Audubon Center, Auburn, NH
River, Conservation Center, Concord, NH (solo show)
Barbara Carr and Michael J. Koza, Lyceum Gallery, Derryfield School, Manchester, NH (2-person show)
Figure, Form and Spirit, Galletly Gallery, New Hampton School, New Hampton, NH (juried)
2004 Juried Regional Exhibit, Library Arts Center Gallery, Newport, NH (juried)
2003 Sky, Bagel Works, Concord, NH (solo show)
2000 Trees and Other Small Works, Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA
Juried Regional Exhibit, Library Arts Center Gallery, Newport, NH (juried)
It’s Still Life, Shedd Free Library, Washington, NH (solo show)
Bog Walks, SPNHF Conservation Center, Concord, NH (solo show)
1999 The Artful Food Exhibition, Mill Brook Gallery, Concord, NH
The Works, Bagel Works, Concord, NH
1996 A Show of Hands: The Second Wave, That Other Gallery, Concord, NH (solo show)
Go Figure!: an Exhibition of Figure Drawings and Paintings, That Other Gallery, Concord, NH
1994 Vegetable Passion: Charcoal Drawings, Thursday’s, Concord, NH (solo show)
1993 Pepper Passion: Oil Paintings & Pastels, Thursday’s, Concord, NH (solo show)
Six New Hampshire Artists in New Mexico, Betty Grant Gallery, Lyme Library, Lyme, NH
Square Meal II, Pavilion Café, Lebanon, NH (solo show)
1992 Square Meal, Thursday’s, Concord, NH (solo show)
HOPE: Celebrating Women’s History, Isis Gallery, Concord, NH
