“What an artist is trying to do for people is bring them closer to something, because of course art is about sharing….”  -  David Hockney

From the artist:
     "This collection includes people either imagined or real and places that grabbed me and didn’t let go.  I am intrigued and fascinated by faces and places.  Each painting or drawing is someplace or someone who interested me both visually and emotionally.

     Every portrait is a story of the development of a human being.  I think that’s why I have been painting and drawing people for so long.  I like their stories.  Even if the subject is someone you’ve never met, as humans we’re all bonded to each other in a wonderful, primitive way.  I suspect I’ll be trying to put faces on paper and canvas for the rest of my life.

     The places I paint are places where I find peace, from the streets of New York City to the serene and spectacular coast of Maine.  Like David Hockney, when I paint I want to bring people closer to something. There is not enough time in my life for me to paint and draw all the people and places I want to.  Creating for me is the greatest use of time I can imagine.  I am in love with everyday working people and places that we all pass by without a second glance. If I look at one of my portraits that I haven’t seen in a while, it feels like I’m reconnecting with an old friend. My hope is that after you see my work, your spirits are lifted." - Barb Allen

About the Artist:
     Barb Allen was educated at Southern Illinois University where she received a Bachelor’s degree in Art Education.  For the next 34 years she taught art  in a public high school while continuing to grow as an artist.  She did post-graduate work at SIU with Erin Palmer.
 
     She did a series of prints of local historical interest and artwork for her most famous client, Ozzie Smith.  In 1996 she was selected as Illinois Teacher of the Year and spent a year traveling and speaking to schools across the country and Japan.  That same year she also won the prestigious Milken Educator Award.  She retired from teaching in 2005 and is pursuing her love of painting.  She studied with portrait artist Mary Minifie in 2006, with the legendary portrait painter Everett Raymond Kinstler in 2007, with Micheal Shane Neal in 2009 and 2011 and with Casey Baugh in 2011 and 2012.  Barb’s studio is in beautiful southern Illinois at the edge of the Shawnee National Forest where she lives with her husband, Gary.  Their son, Sam, lives and works in Manhattan.

See more work by Barb Allen on her website