Barbara Barnett
Claremont, CA
“Painting gave me a way to walk through what I could not yet name.”
Barbara Barnett is a contemporary American abstract artist and U.S. Army veteran based in Claremont whose work stands at the intersection of lived experience, intellectual rigor, and formal precision. Shaped by her service in the U.S. Army Medical Corps in Germany during the Vietnam War, and by her later process of confronting PTSD and military sexual trauma, Barnett’s path into art is as compelling as the work itself.
“I do not paint what I see. I paint how experience organizes itself inside me.”
That clarity of purpose is reinforced by her academic training. Barnett holds a PhD in Psychology with a focus on perception and lived experience, and this foundation is unmistakable in her work. Her paintings are deliberate constructions that reflect how memory, emotion, and perception are structured.
Her early work began in a figurative mode, most notably in her “Women Warriors” series, which explored identity, resilience, and recovery within veteran experience. These works were exhibited nationally and established her as a powerful voice within that space. Even then, the trajectory was clear. Representation was only a starting point.
Barnett’s abstract architectural paintings are distinguished by their geometric frameworks such as lines, grids, and pathways anchor each composition, while circles and arcs act as recurring points of focus and meaning. Color and layered fields create depth and duration, allowing the viewer to experience the work over time rather than in a single glance. Her paintings function as maps of experience, offering pathways, intersections, and shifts without relying on literal imagery. The viewer is given a space to enter and navigate.
Barnett’s work has been exhibited with veteran and national art organizations and is included in collections such as the National POW/MIA Memorial and Museum, where her piece Gratitude Flag is held. She has also been featured in exhibitions like Then & Now: 50 Years of Veterans Experiences, situating her within an important cultural and historical dialogue.
“I want the painting to be somewhere you can go, not something you simply observe.”
