Barbara Cleary Fine Art and Designs
Original Fine Art, Prints, and Designs from the
Collection of Barbara Cleary Fine Art
Barbara Cleary
American Artist
1935-2010
Barbara Cleary was an accomplished American artist who focused on magnificent landscapes and Southwestern scenery, working primarily in oils. Her work is currently held by the Mabee Gerrer Museum of Art, the Museum of the Southwest, Rockwell Museum of Corning, NY, Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art at Kansas State University, and the Mulvane Museum of Art at Washburn University.
Barbara Cleary began exploring the versatile and challenging medium of watercolor in 1963.
Born and raised in Oklahoma, Barbara held degrees from the University of Oklahoma and Central State University with additional hours from Kansas State University, Southwestern College, University of Wyoming, and Louisiana Tech University. She studied diligently with nationally acclaimed artists, Edgar Whitney AWS, John Pike NA, AWS, Douglas Walton, AWS, Charles Movali, and Alfred Currier.
Cleary was a member and former board member- officer of the Artist Guild of Wichita and founding member of the Kansas Watercolor Society. She held membership in the Greater Kansas City Art Association, Oklahoma Watercolor Association, Southern Watercolor Society, Images II: A Fine Art Resource, which she helped to establish, and the Palette and Chisel Academy in Chicago. Throughout her years of painting she participated in festivals, group shows, and won numerous competitions throughout the Midwest.
Cleary hung solo shows in many Kansas communities, taught drawing, composition and watercolor for Fort Scott Community College Outreach Program and taught public school art for 7 years.
Cleary’s watercolor painting “May’s First Born” was included in the 115th Annual Exhibition of the American Watercolor Society at the National Academy of Design Gallery in New York City, NY, and was selected for a 12 month traveling exhibit, one of her greater accomplishments.
After seeing an exhibit of Nicolai Fechin’s work in the 1990s, Cleary chose oil as her preferred medium, concentrating in plein air landscapes. Cleary also worked in sculpture and printmaking for a short period of time, operated a gallery and art supply business, was co-founder of Art Adventures, an educational and working tour program for professional artists, and was included in Who’s Who in American Art.
Cleary traveled extensively to New Mexico and Maine in the 1980s and 90s for inspiration, and while there, mastered the landscape. Her oil paintings include many New Mexico skies, botanicals, and prairie landscapes. Most of her paintings have been published and printed, and are in private and corporate collections, and museums throughout the United States.
A great admirer of Monet and Fechin, and some of the California plein air painters, Cleary said, “I try to push the color (and some of the principles involved in color theory) in the direction that I think these artists might have if they were still painting today.” Allowing her vibrant work to speak for itself, Barbara believed her intention or what she “meant” when she created the piece, has little validity for anyone else. “I can’t tell people what to see,” she explained, “because each person sees through the veil of his own experience.”
While Cleary didn’t acknowledge it at the time, her change in career and lifestyle in the 60s directly challenged the social conventions of the era; like many other women artists of that decade, she faced gender biases and difficulties in trading her work and gaining recognition. Despite the challenges faced in the early years of her career, she found success in showing and selling her work in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s. Her bold choices as a wife, mother, and artist contributed to the progressive Women’s movement of the 60s and 70s and gave her a life of fulfillment and adventure.
Her later years were spent living and working with David Gross, friend and painter.
We Support Indigenous Women
Barbara's love of southwest culture led her to explore the many indigenous communities and Native American arts of the desert southwest in the United States. Barbara Cleary's legacy continues to expand as we offer 10% of all profits to organizations supporting indigenous women and indigenous art in North America.
Museums Acquisitions
Rockwell Museum, Corning, NY
“Ghost Ranch” Oil on Canvas
“Taos Nearing Sunset” Oil on Canvas
“Maine Landscape” Oil on Canvas
Kansas State University, Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, Manhattan, KS
“County Line” Oil on Canvas
“Golden Lining” Oil on Canvas
Washburn University, Mulvane Museum of Art, Topeka, KS
“Grasslands: Flint Hills” Oil on Canvas
“Miami County Line” Oil on Canvas
“Untitled Plein Air Landscape” Oil on Canvas
Museum of the Southwest, Midland, TX
“Pueblo People” Watercolor
“Desert Storm” Oil on Canvas
“Mountain Landscape” Watercolor
“Sky Spirit: New Mexico” Oil on Canvas
“County Line” Oil on Canvas
Mabee Gerrer Museum of Art, Shawnee, OK
“Taos Hollyhocks” Watercolor
“Taos Garden Door” Oil on Canvas
“Red Bluffs Tenkiller” Oil on Canvas
“Hollyhocks” Oil on Canvas
“Colorscape 2” Oil on Canvas
“Bluffs at Tenkiller, Study” Oil on Canvas
Art Bytes: Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art
Learn about Barbara Cleary's impressionistic style of oil painting with Kansas State University. The museum holds multiple paintings as gifts from the family of Barbara Cleary.
Exhibitions Featuring Barbara Cleary
Mabee Gerrer Museum of Art, Shawnee, OK
July 18 – August 30, 2015; Oklahoma Modern: Contemporary Art from the Permanent Collection
Mabee Gerrer Museum of Art, Shawnee, OK
May 3 – June 22, 2014; Barbara Cleary: Natural Journey
Museum of the Southwest, Midland, TX
June 21 – July 28, 2013; New Acquisitions to the Museum of SW Collection
Television Show Feature
“Ozark” by Media Rights Capital for Netflix 2019
Featured two Floral Watercolor paintings circa 1990; watercolor paintings untitled
Join the Email List
Learn more about designs, prints and original art for sale
