The Suffield Arts Council is proud to present an exhibit of fine art by Barbara Alex of Windsor during July. This award-winning artist is a respected member of 12 local art groups, including Windsor Palette and Brush, a group she served as President from 2010 – 2014.
Barbara holds a BFA degree from the Hartford Art School, and is retired from Cigna, where she managed the Print Purchasing Department. She enjoys teaching children at the Art League of New Britain, on Saturdays.
The show, entitled “Transitions” runs from July 2 through July 30, during Library hours, in the Pinney Gallery. On display will be an eclectic collection of work, featuring bright colors in a variety of media, including oils, watercolors, acrylics, pastels, cold wax and alcohol inks.
A “Meet The Artist” Reception will be held, in the gallery, on Thursday evening, July 11, from 6 – 8 p.m.. It is open to the public.
This event is made possible through the joint efforts of the artist, the Kent Library staff and the Suffield Arts Council.
About the Artist
Barbara J. Alex has lived in Windsor, Conn. for the past 38 years. Barbara started coloring and drawing when she was a child. Her grandmother was an art teacher. Her great uncle was an oil painter who did portraits and landscapes. There was evidence of their work throughout her house which influenced her, initiating her passion for art.
In high school Barbara submitted a scratchboard drawing in a Wadsworth Atheneum contest. Her work was accepted and placed in a storefront window in Hartford. Success!
After high school, she enrolled in the Hartford Art School, earning her BFA degree in Advertising Design. While in college she taught art to children at the Art League of New Britain on Saturdays.
She worked as a forms designer, then purchasing agent, and finally manager of the print purchasing department at CIGNA.
Upon retirement she threw herself fulltime into creating art. She has expanded her mediums from primarily oils to now include watercolors, pastels, acrylics, cold wax and oils and alcohol inks. She also added the use of palette knives on some of her paintings and enjoys the extra feeling of freedom and the look of freshness in the paint. She loves adding bright colors to her work in progress.
Her favorite subjects are portraits and landscapes that usually include water. She gets so involved with her painting that she sometimes works for many hours, totally unaware of the passing time. She feels as though it is one long meditation.
Barbara has had many solo art shows as well as several shows with another artist, and enters many juried and regular shows in New England. Her work is in private collections in the USA, Ireland, England and South Africa.
Call it an obsession or a desire to support the arts, but Barbara belongs to all these organizations below, insisting that she gets something different and valuable from each one.
- Art League of New Britain
- Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts, elected member
- Connecticut Watercolor Society, elected member
- Connecticut Women Artists, elected member, former council member
- East Haddam Art League, East Haddam, CT, founding member and current membership chairperson
- Lyme Art Association, Old Lyme, CT
- New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT
- Tobacco Valley Artists Association, Somers, CT
- Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT
- Windsor Art Center, Windsor, CT
- Windsor Palette & Brush Club, Windsor, CT, President 2010-2014
- Women Artists Collective, Windsor, CT, elected member. z