Barbara Donnelly (1932-2022)
A New England native, Barbara had a natural love of the seacoast and soaked in all the ocean and beaches provided through all the senses. Wherever she traveled in the world, the water, boats, nearby villages, and the spirits of local people always engaged her. Never one to stick to the ‘beaten path’, she was adventurous in spirit, especially when seeking the perfect spot to set up for a day of ‘plein air’ painting! Barbara understood how to saturate her paintings with the color, light, and the life of any setting and sought to embrace the true essence of the locale; to capture the setting and people ‘en plein air’ was pure pleasure.
A life-defining moment for Barbara was winning an international award of an Artist-in-Residency to paint in Dinan, France. Living alone for two months in a small cottage by a canal, she made life-long friends, became fluent in the language and returned to different regions of France, frequently, to paint. Following this residency, Barbara was invited to have a six week long One Artist Exhibition of the French paintings at l’Ambassade de France (French Embassy) in Washington, D.C.; this was an exciting experience and a singular honor for an American artist.
Donnelly, painting her whole life and an art graduate of Boston University, had an art studio/gallery on the working waterfront of Gloucester for twenty-three years until 2015. Previously she had a working studio in the Gloucester Academy for fifteen years. Barbara continued to paint at her lake house studio in NH and her residence in Peabody. At the time of her death in February 2022, Barbara had dozens of works in progress as she never worked on just one painting at a time. Her family also discovered hundreds of finished pieces of work that were simply outstanding!
Barbara was an award-winning artist and popular teacher, she had conducted painting workshops and painting demonstrations from her Gloucester and NH studios and performed other workshops and demonstrations to various art associations and other organizations around New England.
As well as painting New England she enjoyed painting abroad, studying the varying light, landscape and architecture in France, Ireland, Scotland, Canada, Puerto Rico, Portugal and China. Her work has found collectors in each of these countries.
Memberships
Academic Artists, American Artists Professional League, Copley Society of Art, New England Watercolor Society, North Shore Arts Association, and Rockport Art Association and Museum.
National Shows
Salmagundi Club, NY; Hudson Valley Art Association, NY; Catherine Lorillard Wolfe, NY; Pittsburgh Watercolor Society, PA; Hilton Head Art League National Open, NC; North American Watercolor Opens, MA; Whistler Museum National Show, MA, among others.
Click here for Barbara Donnelly’s CV.
