Barbara Petrie

Barbara was born in Sandringham, Melbourne at a time when people got Mussels from the Beach and kids ran free around to see cousins and friends. She learnt to hold coloured pencils and to draw long before school and usually saw her mother with a paint brush and a cigarette. Growing older Barbara had Oil painting lessons with Phil Wills in Vermont and lived amongst the Dandenong Ranges where scenery of beauty was abundant. She started life drawing at Selby Community House and also worked with Anne King at her studio in One Tree Hill. Anne ran life drawing classes at The Hut Gallery in Ferntree Gully and then gave the reins to Barbara for a year back in the nineties. Barbara also took an Art and Design course at TAFE in Wantirna where she learnt the happiness gained from creating Still Life and using mixed media. She exhibited and sold paintings at The Community Cultural Centre in The Dandenongs with her sister Robyn, who was important in the establishment of the Centre. She has studied portraiture and Characterisation. This work is based on The Mallee where she now lives (Wedderburn) in country Victoria.
Venue: Eucalyptus Distillery Museum, 20 Grant Street, Inglewood.