London Paint Club

Barbara Howey

b. In the UK, Lives and works in Norwich, UK

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.

Solo Exhibitions

  • 2007 – Techniques of Memory, Pearl Street Galley, Brooklyn, New York, curated by Prof. G. Sullivan 
  • 2005 – Techniques of Memory, Outpost Gallery, Norwich, curated by K.Clayton
  • 2005 – Techniques of Memory, Huddersfield Art Gallery, curated by D.Hall
  • 2002 – Standpoint Gallery, Hoxton, London.
  • 2001- Presences/Absences, Norwich Gallery, curated by Lynda Morris

Group Exhibitions (Selected)

  • 2020 – Vitalistic Fantasies, Cello Factory, London, curated by P. McArthur
  • 2020 – Beyond Other Horizons, Iasi Palace of Culture, Romania, curated by P. Harup, A. McNay, F. Ungureanu.
  • 2018 – Colour in Nature, Groundworks Gallery, curated by V. Sekules
  • 2018 – Lynn Painter-Stainer Prize, Mall Galleries, London
  • 2017 – Contemporary British Painting, China 4 Museums Exhibition, Cui Zhen Kuan Art Museum In Xi’an, The Yanti and Artall I Nanjing, curated by Robert Priseman
  • 2017 – Places and landscape, Waterfront Gallery, University Campus, Suffolk
  • 2016-2017 – Edgelands, touring exhibition, APT Gallery London, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Gloucester City and Art Gallery, Hartlepool Art Gallery, Beverly Museum and Art Gallery, Cambridge University Gallery, curated by Day Bowman
  • 2016-2017 – Real Lives – Painted Pictures, The Crypt Gallery, London and The Cut Gallery, Halesworth, curated by Barbara Howey

Awards & Residencies

  • 2018 – NKD  – Norsk Kunstnercentre Dale, Norway
  • 2006 – Columbia University, New York
  • 2003 – Huddersfield University

Press & Publications

  • 2017 – Volume:3:1/2 Painting as Commitment, Journal of Contemporary Painting (Intellect), co-edited by Barbara Howey and Molly Thomson

Collections

  • Madison Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta Georgia, USA
  • East Contemporary Art UCS, Ipswich UK
  • Swindon Art Gallery, UK.

Education

  • 2001 – PhD Creative Practice/Theory, Norwich University of the Arts
  • 1992 – MA Social History of Art, Leeds University

Works by Barbara Howey

Work Enquiry