Dave Barnett Resume'

Bio: 
Born: Paris, Texas, Feb. 18, 1941 

Education: Paris High School, Paris Junior College, Southeastern Oklahoma State College (BA Education, 1962) New Mexico Highlands University (MA Painting, 1967) Work. Art teacher, Carlsbad Municipal Schools, Carlsbad, NM, 1962-1993. 

Marital: Married Patsy Ann Holden of Ft. Towson, Oklahoma, 1962. 

Children: Two, Joanne and Amanda 

Grandchildren: Three: Lucas A. Clark, Grant H. Ross, and Adrianne J. Ross, . Creative history: Painting: 1960-1977. Potter: 1977-1993 Painting: 1993-present. Live: Elephant Butte, NM 

Philosophy: 
I think that art should be an amalgamation of all that the painter has experienced. It can never be all-inclusive, but is filtered, as it were, through one's consciousness, arriving on the canvas as a reduction from the whole. Art is, or should be, a culmination, a gathering point of one's experience of existence. Painting, in particular, for me at least, is a painstaking process in which I wrestle with some forces that tend to pull me in mixed directions. I am by nature fickle, easily distracted, and given to impulsive behavior. That kind of personality doesn't always serve the best interests of one's art, especially if one wishes to be seen as having a certain style or track. Finally, after many years of just sheer hard work, I have arrived at a point of compromise with those forces, choosing to listen to some and to ignore others. It is akin to getting married. One chooses an approach as the one he best loves and sticks with it. This is the only way I have managed to put together anything that resembles consistency. Were Ito dabble in a new style with each painting, none would receive any more than superficial attention. In staying true to a style-insomuch as it is possible to do that-I am able to hammer out the problems that arise (and they do arise) in each work using the same tools. Occasionally I do wander off track and see myself getting involved in things that may be interpreted as being wild or flamboyant for me. It's usually a short-lived, but welcome diversion into an area of painting that is out of character with my self-imposed and natural limitations. It can be compared to having a dessert after months and months of just meat and potatoes. How then, one might ask, do I remain fresh in my approach to painting when trying to live within these self-imposed constraints commonly referred to as style? First of all, I am a selfish painter. I paint for myself, not for others, or toward a market, therefore I must be very positive that what I am about to try to paint is a subject that has great appeal to me, one with which I have actually had a visual encounter, and it must fit into the style format to which I am accustomed. Further, I am always pushing myself to examine how to take a new, creative approach rather than just imitating myself at every turn. That's a tough assignment. As it works with me, every painting is a new journey, which, if it is to be worthwhile, must contain some element of the different, the unfamiliar, and the uncharted. It can be scary sometimes standing out there on the edge of a precipice, teetering back and forth, not knowing whether to stay put or jump. But, it is this very fear that is exciting to the point that it serves the painting well. For if one gets too complacent, comfortable, lazy or just bored with the drudgery, it can spell death to a work. So, here I am at a mature age, thinking young, trying to stay fresh and hoping that it is not too late to grow in and to learn from the world in which I find myself.