Born in Newbury, VT, Julia Whitney Barnes spent two decades in Brooklyn, before moving to the Hudson Valley, where she now lives with her photographer husband and two children. Whitney Barnes received her BFA from Parsons School of Design and her MFA from Hunter College. Her work is executed in a variety of media, from cyanotypes, watercolor, oil paintings, ceramic sculptures, murals, and site-specific installations. Whitney Barnes has exhibited in the United States and internationally, including at Front Room Gallery, Brooklyn, NY/New York, NY; Brooklyn Historical Society, The Old Stone House, and Trestle Gallery, all Brooklyn, NY; Mattaewan Gallery, Beacon, NY; Cunneen Hackett Arts Center, and WomensWork Gallery, both Poughkeepsie, NY; ArtsWestchester, White Plains, NY Institute of Contemporary Art and International Crytopzoology Museum, both Portland, ME, and Siena Art Institute, Italy, among many others. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, USA Today, The Village Voice, Chronogram, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and Hyperallergic, among other publications. She was awarded fellowships from New York State Council on the Arts administered through Arts Mid-Hudson, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Abbey Memorial Fund for Mural Painting/National Academy of Fine Arts, and the Gowanus Public Art Initiative, among others. She is on faculty at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY. Whitney Barnes has created site-specific installations at Arts Brookfield, Brooklyn, NY; the Wilderstein Sculpture Biennial, Rhinebeck, NY; The Trolley Barn/Fall Kill Creative Works, Poughkeepsie, NY; GlenLily Grounds, Newburgh, NY; ArtsWestchester, White Plains, NY; Gowanus Public Arts Initiative, Brooklyn, NY; Space All Over/Fjellerup Bund i Bund & Grund, Fjellerup, Denmark; Lower Manhattan Cultural Council/Sirovitch Senior Center, New York, NY; Brooklyn School of Inquiry, Brooklyn, NY; New York City Department of Transportation, New York, NY; and Figment Sculpture Garden, Governors Island, NY and among other locations. She is on faculty at Marist College. Artist Statement In this series, I approach each growing thing with equal importance regardless of whether it is a weed, rare species, wildflower, or cultivated flower. Most works have several species fused into one composition, often to the point where the exact plants depicted are open to interpretation. Each composition starts as a blue and white print onto watercolor paper and then I work in watercolor, gouache, and ink. Even the works that appear all blue and white are usually augmented with brushed on media. I am most interested in creating objects that feel both beautiful and mysterious. I want them to be familiar yet slightly outside of time. In the summer of 2015, I moved from Brooklyn to a hundred-year-old house in Hudson Valley, along with my husband, Sean Hemmerle. Four weeks later, I gave birth to our daughter, Magnolia. Instead of a baptism for the baby, we organized a tree planting ceremony and positioned a magnolia tree in our front yard, including the placenta as fertilizer. This small act was the beginning of my intimate connection to plants growing in our yard. After the birth of our son August in 2018, we had a similar ceremony with a dogwood tree in our back yard. Throughout the eighteen years I lived in New York City, one of the things I felt most lacking was a direct relationship with nature. After moving to Poughkeepsie, the influence of having green space of my own for the first time in my adult life started to creep into my studio process. The simple action of frequently going outside, then inside, then outside again made me think about interior/exterior in formal and metaphorical ways. It is deeply satisfying to take something that is ephemeral and represent it in a way that can live on forever. Curriculum Vitae Education2006 MFA Fine Arts, Painting & Combined Media, Hunter College, CUNY, New York, NY2001 BFA Fine Arts, Painting, Parsons The New School for Design, New York, NYAwards and Residencies 2022 Individual Artist Grant, New York State Council on the Arts/NYSCA2018 Individual Artist Commission, NY State Decentralization Grant, Arts Mid-Hudson, Poughkeepsie, NY2015 Gowanus Public Arts Initiative Grant (ArtsGowanus, The Old Stone House & District 39), Brooklyn, NY2013 Residency with Site-Specific Installation & Fellowship, Fjellerup I Bund I Grund, Fjellerup, Denmark2012 Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (Seniors Partnering with Artists Citywide) Residency &Fellowship, New York, NY2010 National Academy of Fine Art, Edwin Austin Abbey Mural Residency & Fellowship,New York, NY2008 International Open Art Residency, Island of Dreams, Greece2006 Greenwich House Pottery Residency, New York, NY2006 Nancy Ashton Memorial Fellowship MFA Award, Hunter College, CUNY, New York, NYPublic Art Installations 2024 PS 253 (interior glass commission), Public Art in Public Schools/Percent for Art, Brooklyn, NY2022 Planting Utopia (interior installation), Albany International Airport, Albany, NY2022 Planting Utopia (interior and exterior installation), Shaker Heritage Society, Albany, NY2022 Planting Utopia (interior installation), Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Manhattan & Westchester, NY2022 Ridge Hill Banners (exterior installation), Ridge Hill in collaboration with ArtsWestchester, Yonkers, NY2021 Nocturnal Nature (interior installation), Winter Garden/Brookfield Place, New York, NY2020 Illumination: An Interpretation of Charles Booth's Stained Glass Windows (interior installation),Arts Brookfield, Brooklyn, NY2019 Hudson River of Bricks (exterior installation), Wilderstein Sculpture Biennial, Rhinebeck, NY2018 Hudson River of Bricks (interior installation), Poughkeepsie Trolley Barn, Poughkeepsie, NY2017 Hudson River of Bricks (exterior installation), GlenLily Grounds, Newburgh, NY2015 Industry Meets Ecology (exterior mural), Gowanus Public Arts Initiative Mural, Brooklyn, NYLegal Aviary (exterior mural), Baw Ridge SAW/Sichenze & Sichenze storefront, Brooklyn, NY2013 Flora I Fjellerup (wood installation & exterior mural), Former Byuns Købmand Storefront,Fjellerup, Denmark2013 Historias Coloridas de México (ceramic and glass mosaic), Brooklyn School of Inquiry, Brooklyn, NY2012 Refracted Nature (ceramic and glass mosaic), Sirovich Senior Center/LMCC, New York, NY2011 Roots/Routes (exterior mural), New York City Department of Transportation - Urban Art Program,New York, NY2011 Road Less Traveled (exterior mural), St. Nicks Alliance – Arts@Renaissance, Brooklyn, NY2011 Floor-Sight (exterior digital billboard), The Billboard Art Project, Savannah, GA, Nashville, TN &Duluth, MN2010 Found on Governors Island (exterior ceramic installation), FIGMENT Sculpture Garden, Governors Island, NY2009 Prospect Flora (mixed-media installation), Brooklyn Utopias?, Brooklyn Historical Society,Brooklyn, NY2009 Epiphyte (mixed-media installation), Windows Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY2009 Treehouse: Interior/Exterior (exterior printed billboard), ArtBridge, New York, NY2009 Gilded Phytophilic Bats (exterior ceramic installation), Annmarie Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Affiliate,Solomons, MD2008 Relative Environment (exterior ceramic installation), Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park, Brooklyn, NY2008 Gowanus Canal Species (exterior mural), Toll Brothers & Art Assets, Brooklyn, NYSelected Exhibitions2024 Picturesque Botany, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY2024 Inspired, Hancock Shaker Village Museum, Pittsfield, MA2023 Julia Whitney Barnes: Picturesque Botany, Armour-Stiner Octagon House Museum, Irvington, NY2023 Us & ME, Special Pop-up Exhibition, Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Portland, ME2022 Julia Whitney Barnes, Galerie Julian Sander, Cologne, Germany 2022 House & Garden, Washington Art Association, Washington Depot, CT2022 Julia Whitney Barnes/Planting Utopia, Shaker Heritage Society & Albany International Airport, Albany, NY 2022 Birds of a Feather, Kobe Art Center/Ethan Cohen Fine Art, Beacon, NY2022 Bold Little Beauty, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY2022 Sans Toi, Equity Gallery, New York, NY2022 Cool & Collected '22, Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Kent, CT2021 On The Water, Front Room Gallery/ArtBuoy, Kingston, NY2021 Sunrise Sunset, Albany International Airport, Arts & Culture Program, Albany, NY 2021 Propagation, Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Kent, CT 2021 30th Anniversary Exhibition, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY2021 Embody, Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT2021 Together apART: Creating During Covid, ArtsWestchester, White Plains, NY2021 Continuum, Perspectives Gallery at Whitney Center, Hamden, CT2021 Flourish, Lark & Key Gallery, Durham, NC2020 New Folk, Dorsky Museum, New Paltz, NY2020 minimalism/MAXIMALISM, Front Room Gallery, New York, NY2019 Julia Whitney Barnes: Botany of Poughkeepsie, Cunneen Hackett Arts Center, Poughkeepsie, NY2019 Celebrating Color, Womens Work Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY2019 Summer Sampler, Front Room Gallery, New York, NY2019 Tickled Pink, Queen City 15, Poughkeepsie, NY2018 Brick to Brick, ArtsWestchester, White Plains, NY 2018 Frabjous, Openings Collective: Church of the St. Paul The Apostle, New York, NY2018 The Creek Flows Into the River: New Work from the Hudson River Valley, Walnut Hill Gallery, Hudson, NY2018 Patterns in Nature, Front Room Gallery, New York, NY 2017 18th, 19th, 21st: Confabulations of Millennia, Institute of Contemporary Art, Portland, ME2017 Super Natural, Matteawan Gallery, Beacon, NY2017 Julia Whitney Barnes & Jolynn Krystosek, Art Centro, Poughkeepsie, NY2017 Taconic North, LABspace, Hillsdale, NY2017 Nasty Women HV, Instar Lodge, Germantown, NY2017 coda, Front Room Gallery, Brooklyn, NY2016 Monsters in America, International Cryptozoology Museum, Portland, ME2016 The Ballot Show, Front Room Gallery, Brooklyn, NY2016 Monsters in America, One Mile Gallery, Kingston, NY2016 Beauty, Openings Collective: Church of the St. Paul The Apostle, New York, NY2016 Bringing Brooklyn to Norfolk, Gallery 21, Norfolk, VA2015 Eumetadotos, Novella Gallery, New York, NY2015 The Unexpected Path, Arts Mid-Hudson, Poughkeepsie, NY2015 The Old Gem, Arts@Renaissance, Brooklyn, NY2014 Front Room at 15, Front Room Gallery, Brooklyn, NY2014 Summer Love, Front Room Gallery, Brooklyn, NY2014 Liberalis, Novella Gallery, New York, NY2014 The Last Brucennial, Vito Schnabel & The Bruce High Quality Foundation, New York, NY 2013 Group Therapy: Politics & Aesthetics, 111 Front Street Galleries/Two Trees, Brooklyn, NY 2013 In Her Nature, Fountain Art Fair, 69th Regiment Armory, New York, NY2013 Collectively Assembled, Arts@Renaissance, Brooklyn, NY 2012 These Trees: Melissa Cowper-Smith + Julia Whitney Barnes, Hendrix College, Conway, AR
2012 The Ballot Show (Quadrennial), Front Room Gallery, Brooklyn NY 2012 Frenzy Into Folly, Openings Collective: Church of the St. Paul The Apostle, New York, NY 2012 These Trees: Julia Whitney Barnes + Melissa Cowper Smith, Sweet Lorraine Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 2012 Collectivity: Art-Making in a Collective, Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning, Jamaica, NY2012 Brucennial 2012, Bruce High Quality Foundation, New York, NY 2012 Postcards from Long Island, Barister’s Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2012 In-Habitat, Front Room Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2011 NurtureArt Benefit, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, NY2011 Drawing Connections, Siena Art Institute, Siena, Italy 2011 tART: Year 8, Arts@Renaissance, Brooklyn, NY2011 Alarums and Excursions: presented by Fuse Works, Front Room Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 2011 Naming the Animals, Curious Matter, Jersey City, NJ 2011 Single Fare 2: Please Swipe Again, Sloan Fine Art, New York, NY2011 Sweet + Sour, OZANEAUX Art Space, New York, NY2010 Edwin Austin Abbey Fellowship Exhibition, National Academy of Fine Art Museum, New York, NY 2010 Cool and Collected, Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont, NY2010 Julia Whitney Barnes: Paintings & Ceramics, Armstrong Hipkins Center for The Arts, Blairstown, NJ 2010 tart at AIR; What’s in a Collective, A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY2010 Green Too, Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center, Smithsonian Affiliate, Solomons, MD 2009 Within the Menagerie: Melissa Pokorny & Julia Whitney Barnes, Front Room Gallery, Brooklyn NY 2009 SummerSpace, OZANEAUX Art Space, New York, NY 2009 Brooklyn Utopias?, Old Stone House Museum, Brooklyn, NY2009 Green Party, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, NY2009 tart at AIR, A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 2009 Wild Things, Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center, Smithsonian Affiliate, Solomons, MD 2008 tART Summer Salon, Rabbitholestudio Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 2007 Julie Durkin, Lauren Olitski, Julia Whitney Barnes, Mulry Fine Art, West Palm Beach, FL 2007 Images 2007, Robeson Gallery, PA Festival of the Arts, University Park, PA 2006 MFA Show: Julia Whitney Barnes Orchid-Bats, Hunter College Times Square Gallery, New York, NY2005 MA’s Select MFA’s, Hunter College Times Square Gallery, New York, NY 2003 Julia Whitney Barnes: Cycles, 65 Hope Street Gallery, Brooklyn, NY Press and Publications Dovetail Magazine, November 27, 2023, “Julia Whitney Barnes’ botanical cyanotypes fill an airy drying house in Albany” The Jealous Curator, November 4, 2023, “Blue cyanotypes, painted cyanotypes, installations AND a new book!?”Herzstück Magazine, July/August 2023, “Artist Julia Whitney Barnes Creates Enchanted Plant Worlds” Create Magazine, Fall 2022, Issue #33Friend of the Artist, Summer 2022, Volume 15Stamford Advocate, August 31, 2022 “Washington Art Association announces Home & Garden”MSN, July 18, 2022 “Shaker-inspired art on display at Albany International Airport and historic site nearby”The Points Guy, July 17, 2022 “Shaker-inspired art on display at Albany International Airport and historic site nearby”Stuck At The Airport, July 10, 2022 “Planting Utopia at Albany International Airport (ALB)”Times Union, June 28, 2022, “Brick Collectors of the Hudson Valley”American Art Collector Magazine, March 2022, “Garden Delights – Collector’s Focus: Florals & Botanicals”Hudson Valley Magazine, February 22, 2022, “Hudson Valley Artist Draws Inspiration From Natural Surroundings”Poets & Writers Magazine, September/October 2021 “Lost in the Weeds”I Like Your Work, April 23, 2021 “Julia Whitney Barnes – Studio Visit Interview”Strathmore Blog, December 23, 2020 “Cyanotype, Watercolor and Gouache”Apartment Therapy, November 11, 2020, “The 12 Best kids’ Room Makeovers We’ve Ever Seen” Apartment Therapy, May 27, 2020, “Art: Kid’s Bedroom Mural”The Times Record Dec. 1, 2019, “Claudia’s Corner: Local artist inspired by Hudson Valley”The Poughkeepsie Journal July 25, 2019, “Experience the discovery of Wilderstein Sculpture Biennial Exhibition”The Poughkeepsie Journal Feb. 6, 2019, "’Tickled Pink' artists display their interpretations of color in group exhibit”Chronogram, January 23, 2019, “Poughkeepsie's Trolley Barn Chugs Along”Almanac Weekly September 13, 2018, “Hudson River of Bricks Installation in Poughkeepsie”The Poughkeepsie Journal September 7, 2018, “’Hudson River of Bricks’ Celebrates Defunct Art”Beekman 1802 Almanac, Winter 2017/2018, “Dreamcatchers: The Very Foundation of a Fascinating Project”The Poughkeepsie Journal November 17, 2017, “Artists Tap into Natural Habitat for Exhibition”Chronogram, July 2017, “On the Cover: Julia Whitney Barnes” [cover story]The Poughkeepsie Journal July 31, 2017, “Artists use nature to explore their visions in 'Super Natural'”The New York Times August 2, 2016, “In Gowanus, A People’s Housing Plan to Challenge the Mayor’s”News 12 Brooklyn TV October 12, 2015, “Best of Brooklyn: Gowanus Mural”Brooklyn Magazine August 31, 2015, “Juxtaposition on the Gowanus Canal: New Mural Celebrates the Grittinessand Beauty”DNA New York August 21, 2015, “Mural Inspired by Floating Gardens Unveiled on Toxic Gowanus Canal”The Poughkeepsie Journal August 13, 2015, “Unexpected Path exhibit highlights travel, unforeseen”The L Magazine May 19, 2015, “L Rex: Art/Sixth Annual Bay Ridge S.A.W.”Hey Ridge May 19, 2015, “On The Right Side Of The Line: SAW Bringing Public Art To Bay Ridge”Catalog for Open Engagement conference, published May 2015Greenpointers July 28, 2014, “I Fell in Love With ‘Summer Love’ at The Front Room Gallery”The Village Voice July 2, 2014, “Events: Summer Love”Art F City June 30, 2014, “This Week’s Must See Events”Bright Young Things June 30, 2014, “Your Guide To NYC Art Openings (This Week)”Lokalavisen, August 7, 2013, “Fjellerup ferniserer de sidste to gange” [cover story]Lokalavisen, July 24, 2013, “Fjellerup får ruinhave på stranden”Lokalavisen, July 23, 2013, “Bertel Haarder åbner udstilling I Fjellerup”Lokalavisen, July 16, 2013, “Verden kommer til Fjellerup”New York Observer/GalleristNY, October 1, 2012, “In Brooklyn, It’s Go Time”Exit Strata, September 27, 2012, “Frenzy Into Folly Virtual Gallery”Hyperallergic, September 11, 2012, “GO Red Hook; Three Themes Observed”East Villager, August 16, 2012, “Sirovich’s Center offers window(s) into mosaic” [cover story]Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Feb. 24, 2012, “Artist Julia Whitney Barnes: Paintings to Ceramics to Murals” [cover story]Brooklyn Eagle, February 23, 2012, “Bats, Orchids and Tree Houses, A Brooklyn Artist Shares Her Inspirations”The L Magazine, February 1, 2012, “Artists Imagine Inhabitable Habitats”Flavorpill, January 25, 2012, “Critics Pick: In-Habitat”Gowanus Your Face Off, January 10, 1012, “Climate Reality Project’s Gowanus Expedition”The Greenpoint Gazette, September 16, 2011, “The Renaissance Women of tART” [cover story]Catalog for Open Engagement conference, published May 2011W-MBC TV, Airdate: April 25, 2011, “Interview for Naming The Animals exhibition at Curious Matter”Catalog for Naming The Animals exhibition, published April 2011BCAT TV, September & October airdates 2010, “Neighborhood Beat: Red Hook – Julia Whitney Barnes”Artnet, August 11, 2010, “Mural Fellowships Announced for 2010”Larchmont-Mamaroneck Patch, July 29, 2010, “Hot New Brooklyn Artists at Opening of ‘Cool & Collected’”The Baltimore Sun, July 15, 2010, “Sculpture garden celebrates relationship between art, nature”Greenpoint Gazette February, 15, 2015, “Local Arts Champion Set to Reassert Itself with Massive Exhibition”The Warren Reporter, January 26, 2010, “Brooklyn artist Julia Whitney Barnes to exhibit at Blair Academy”The New York Times: City Room, March 4, 2010, “Ode to the Gowanus Canal”The Huffington Post, November 19, 2009, “Bats: The New Canary in the Coal Mine?wagmag, June 1, 2009, “Review: Within the Menagerie”The Greenpoint Gazette, May 28, 2009, “Wildly Amusing”500 Ceramic Sculptures, May 2009 published by Lark BooksThe New York Times, City Beat Blog, March 27, 2009, “Converting Chelsea Scaffolds Into Art”AMNY, March 20, 2009, “Artistic Neighborhood Face-Lift”Curbed, October 30, 2008 “Have Toll Brothers Turned to Art to Win Gowanus Hearts & Minds?”Brownstoner, October 30, 2008 “Closing Bell: Wild Gowanus”NBC New York October 30, 2008 “Toll Brothers Using Art to Win Gowanus Hearts & Minds?”flash film, October 10, 2008 “Interview with Julia Whitney Barnes”New York Art Crit, August 4, 2008 “Summer Sculpture 2008: Vegetable Mineral”The New York Times (Travel Section) August 3, 2008 “In Brooklyn, Sharing a River but Not Much Else”Kathimerini (Greece), K Magazine, August 3, 2008 “Art Eretria: Openart Residency”Black Book Magazine, July 3, 2008 “Sweet tarts Go Down The Rabbit Hole”The Palm Beach Post, November 30, 2007 “Stop. Look. Go! Art: Exhibitions of Note”The New York Sun, April 19, 2003 “Calendar Pick with photo – Cycles: Julia Whitney Barnes”