Barbara Owen

Barbara Owen is an artist based in Pawtucket, Rhode Island and Brooklyn, New York.

As an artist who creates abstract objects, my work is an exploration of color and shape. I aim to evoke strong emotions and provoke thought by transcending the boundaries of traditional representation and painting surface. The themes of femininity and beauty are particularly poignant in my work. By combining vibrant hues and fluid shapes, I strive to capture the essence of femininity and celebrate its diverse forms. The interplay of colors and the intricacy of forms in my work magnify the beautiful, embracing the power and complexity within its abstract manifestations.

Barbara has been a visiting artist & critic at Rhode Island College, BFA Painting Department (2022), School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, BFA (2022), The Teaching Gallery at HVCC (2017), RISD, INTAR Summer Program (2016, 2017) and in 2018 was awarded the Evelyn Danzig Haas ’39 Visiting Artists Program at Wheaton College.

She has been awarded residencies nationwide, including Dorland Mountain Arts Colony, CA (2000), Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, NY (2002), and MASS MoCA/Assets for Artists, MA (2015). She is a featured artist in the NetWorks 2015 Artist Video Portrai...

MFA, Art Practice, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY, 2020
BA, Interdivisional Major, Sculpture & Poetry, Bennington College, Bennington, Vt

Owen’s art and curatorial work have been reviewed by and featured in Art in Embassies Collection Catalogue, Studio Visit, Volume 9, International Edition, ArtScope Magazine, Take Magazine, Big Red and Shiny, Art New England, The Providence Journal, Newport Mercury, The Record Review, South Coast Today, NetWorks Rhode Island Artist Video Portrait Series and Repair: Sustainable Design Futures, edited by Markus Berger and Kate Irwin, illus. p.136, 139. Routledge, London and New York

Selected Solo & Group exhibitions include: Spring/Break Los Angeles (CA), Untitled Miami (FL), Tiger Strikes Asteroid GVL (NC), Jamestown Art Center (RI), SVA Flatiron Gallery (NYC), Dedee Shattuck Gallery (MA), Redwood Library and Athenaeum (RI), Collar Works (Troy, NY) LabSpace (Hillsdale, NY), Bristol Art Museum (RI), Newport Art Museum (RI), UMass Dartmouth (New Bedford, MA) Art-in-Embassies (Papua New Guinea and Suriname).