Sylvan Gallery Artist: Barbara Lussier

Barbara Lussier is a philosophically direct descendant of the Old Lyme and the American Hudson River School painters and approaches her subject in a way that embraces these traditions - honoring nature and working from direct observation. Her landscapes explore the romance of color and light and have been described as "poetry." The daughter of a consummate fisherman and boater, Barbara experienced the mysteries and wonder of the sea while roaming the coastline of Nahant, Massachusetts as a child. She followed her father to the warmer waters of Florida, where he fished and boated, and she painted boating subjects while attending the Ringling school of Art. Later, she explored the South Pacific coastline, where she was sometimes dropped by helicopter on uninhabited islands to paint pink rocks and turquoise waters. At the hand of her mother, she learned the wildflowers and trees of New England, feeding her fervor for their majesty and aesthetics. Currently, she lives in New England and supplies galleries with imagery of farmland, mountains, rocky shores and sandy beaches. A collector recently traded his boat for her painting so that she might further explore the creeks, rivers and coastline that are her favorite painting subjects.

Barbara holds a B.F.A. degree from the University of Hartford. She has also studied at Ringling School of Art, Hartford College for Women, and the Lyme Academy. Her work has been exhibited throughout New England and internationally. She is represented in a number of corporate and private collections and has won numerous awards, including the Painting Award from the Connecticut Academy of Fine Art; the Award for Excellence in Painting from the Rockport Art Association 2006, 2007; and the Painting Award from the Academic Artist Association 2007 and the Sylvan Gallery Juried Landscape Exhibition, June, 2008.

Barbara teaches plein air painting privately and through various educational institutions, including the Lyme Art Association, where she is an elected member and serves as President on the Board of Directors. She is a signature member of New England Plein Air Painters, an elected member of the Rockport Art Association, where she served on the 2006-07 membership jury, and is a member of the Academic Artists Association and Oil Painters of America.

SYLVAN GALLERY