Barbara Gilhooly

Barbara Gilhooly was born in North Dakota in 1963. She attended the University of North Dakota and received her BFA in 1986. Concentrating on printmaking and sculpture, Gilhooly earned her MFA from Colorado State University in 1989.

 

Gilhooly works as a professional artist and maintains an active exhibition schedule. Recently, her work was shown in Paris, New York, Colorado, and several exhibitions in the Twin Cities.

 

Rich in color, texture, and symbols, Gilhooly's work references a personal vocabulary of botanical forms, patterns, and invented abstractions. She has a multidisciplinary approach to her work which includes painting, drawing, wire sculpture, and mixed media in 2-D and 3-D formats. 

 

Gilhooly typically begins her painted pieces by building up many layers of painted color and pattern. In between painting, she draws with ink or works back into the surface by carving, sanding, and scrubbing the paint to reveal the texture underneath. The result is a surface showing a rich and active history.

 

Her work as appeared in numerous publications, including Interior Design, Metropolitan Home, Midwest Home & Garden, Metro, Minnesota Monthly, Mpls / St. Paul Magazine, and Canadian Art.  In addition, Gilhooly has work in numerous permanent collections including Children’s Hospital & Clinics, Minneapolis and St. Paul, Kaiser Permanente, Princeton University, Dept of International Affairs, Phoenix Children's Hospital and others. Her work has also been exhibited nationally and internationally in Paris, China, Canada, and Cuba.