Barbara McGivern

b. 1957

Barbara grew up in Toronto and at the age of 5 her painting skills were first recognized. In 1971 Barbara went to Europe, for 5 years. Finally settling in London in the fall on 1974 she became a member of The Arts Club Mayfair. and Chelsea Arts Club. Returning to Toronto in 1976 she worked with Columbia Pictures Television until 1981 when they stopped producing TV programs in Canada. She then started painting at her first art studio in downtown Toronto, her work at that time was very naive and was inspired by the English artist Beryl Cook, around that time she got accepted by the Ontario College of Art and Design she studied under famous Canadian artists such as Graham Coughtry and Ian Carr-Harris, she graduated in 1988 in Experimental Arts at OCAD. In 1992 Barbara went to Russia where saw the shows of the Impressionist artist Matisse at the Hermitage and Fernando Botero at the Pushkin, Moscow. During the same trip Barbara saw the Barnes Collection at Musee D'Orsay, Paris and was inspired by such master pieces. She produced a series of paintings based on the Impressionist, with her own interpretation of The Barnes Collection, which was later shown at Musee Hotel Baudy in Giverny.[4] Throughout the 90's McGivern was represented by galleries in Yorkville, Toronto, Montreal, Edmonton as well as Zurich, Berlin, London, Paris and Madrid.