Barbara Greene is a landscape painter who recently moved from northern Vermont to northern Virginia. She started painting seriously as a young teenager and always envisioned a career in the arts. But life got in the way, and for many years painting necessarily took a back seat to other professional work and family responsibilities. About 12 years ago, with joy—and occasional frustration—Barbara picked up her brushes again and painting has since been her primary professional focus.
She studied painting with Philip Shumaker and Lawrence Hirsch in New York, did studio work and studied art history as an undergraduate at the University of Chicago, and subsequently pursued graduate level coursework at the Cleveland Institute of Art as a non-degree student. She has also attended a number of workshops conducted by nationally recognized artists in various mediums.
In addition to creating her own work, Barbara—together with another artist and a gallery owner—created, organized and conducted a plein air festival in Vermont. The initial event attracted more than 100 artists, debuted to great reviews, and continued for another seven years with participants from all over New England.
Barbara’s been actively involved in the art community for many years. With her colleagues from the festival, Barbara organized several seminars for artists with guest experts in fields ranging from copyright issues to dealing with galleries. She served as the unofficial “chair” of an official town committee organizing and exhibiting the work of local artists, and worked with a local high school art department mentoring senior class students. And she’s recently been elected to the board of directors of The Art League, based in the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, Virginia.
Not quite abstract yet not quite representational, Barbara’s paintings reveal the basic elements of an approachable, identifiable context, but not the details. She tries to create a sense of place, a place that may be readily recognizable or may just feel somehow familiar. And through her work, she invites viewers to share her visions of her subject matter or to create their own.
