Florida Artists Group

Barre's Bio:

Dr. S Barre Barrett earned the BS degree in Art Education and the MA degree in at the University of Missouri.  His college teaching career began at Ottawa University in Kansas.  With a completed Ph.D. degree from the University of Kansas, he and his family moved to Florida and he joined the faculty at Jacksonville University in 1970.

Barre has exhibited with the Florida Artists Group for many years including Annual Symposium/Exhibitions and is past president of the organization.  A member of the Southern Watercolor Society, he was accepted into the 2005 Annual Juried Exhibition.  Barre exhibited frequently with the Jacksonville University Art Faculty in the Alexander Brest Museum and other venues.  Solo exhibitions include appearances at Longboat Key Art Center, Bolles School, Mussalem Gallery, Riverside Fine Arts, Selva Marina Country Club and Jacksonville University.  Group exhibitions include Jacksonville Art Museum, Ocala Images in Art, and Daytona Art Association.  His work appears in private collections, notably Prudential Insurance Co., National Association of Schools of Art, and the Columbia Missouri Public Schools.  He designed stained glass windows for First Christian Church of the Beaches.  His art appeared on the cover of Jacksonville Magazine and the International Delius Association. 

At Jacksonville University Barre chaired the Art Department, the Division of Art, Theater Arts, and Dance, and served as Interim Dean of the College of Fine Arts.   He was elected Chair of the faculty, and honored as University Professor of the Year in 1991.  In 1999 the university academic honor fraternity named him a Phi Kappa Phi Artist.  In 2007 Jacksonville University awarded him Professor Emeritus in Art.  During his teaching career, Barre was active in the Duval Art Teachers Association and the Florida Art Education Association, and was an examiner in Art for International Baccalaureate for High Schools in Florida. 

Artist’s Statement:

Patterns and relationships both seen and unseen affect our lives. Throughout history, people have sought to tap into these patterns by use of magic, divination, religion, philosophy, science, and the arts. Using painting, I explore patterns and relationships found between colors and shapes and connections to the natural world, connections to visual forces, and connections to God. Natural forms like trees, flowers, shells, birds and animals reflect known and unknown forces and I explore using these images. My body of work is at times completely abstract and at other times representational and can be a combination of both abstract and realistic images.