Featured Visiting Artist Steve Barber

 

STEVE BARBER Ethel Lee Bowden's grandson

Steve Barber, Harrisburg artist, remembers that as children, he and his sister loved to draw and paint. Through his school years, he said he “ran into some pretty important people and instructors who took a liking” to his work, especially his teacher Charles Acri. At the time of his high school graduation, not sure of what path to pursue, Barber enrolled in the Art Institute of Philadelphia to study visual communication.

After leaving the Art Institute and not being able to find a job in his field, he decided to continue his painting. An instructor from the Institute told him that “there is a gift” in his painting, and that he should never give it up.

After returning to Harrisburg, Barber joined The Art Association of Harrisburg (AAH) and continues to study there through the present time. At AAH his instructor with the greatest influence on his work was the late expressionist Charles “Li” Hidley.

Today, Steve Barber works full-time, paints, and studies abstract art and mixed media at The Art Association with instructor Thomas Kulp. Barber says that his goal and inspiration is "to paint with my design sense, imagination, and spiritual mind-set, letting my skill-set dictate what the actual creation is".

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