Barbara Howey received an MA in Art History from Leeds University in 1992, and a PhD in painting and theory at Norwich University of the Arts in 2001. In her current work the viewer is invited in-close to fungal, animal and flowery subjects to experience the energy of short intense non-human life.  Barbara Howey’s paintings are part of an ongoing personal ecological and botanical exploration gathered from suburban green spaces on the edges of cities. The work is made wet into wet in one sitting revealing the process of making through the stains, drips and marks that describe the forms. The use of heightened colour and gestural marks evokes the aliveness and the pleasure of such human/non-human encounters. Barbara Howey has exhibited nationally and internationally both in solo and group exhibitions and has taken part in major UK painting prizes such as the John Moores and Exeter Phoenix Contemporary. In 2018 she was artist in residence at Norsk Kunstnercentre Dale, Norway. Her work is in national and international public collections.