Art Gallery of Newfoundland and
Labrador (AGNL)
Shaped by the Sea
Permanent Collections
Anne Meredith Barry is an artist's artist. Born in Toronto in 1932, she started her art training at an early age. Her mother encouraged her daughters to do whatever they could and to be whomever they wanted. When Barry expressed an interest in taking art lessons, her mother took on a part-time job to send her to a private school that instructed children both in schoolwork and the arts.
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Island Lake 1976 Collograph, 2/25 50.2 x 53.5 cm 
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Barry went on to graduate from the Ontario College of Art (OCA) in 1954, well-grounded on the technical side. She began to paint on a vigorous schedule, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., five or six days a week. While beginning her family and eventually settling down in Montreal, she continued to paint in this disciplined and structured way. Although she did have some success selling her work, generally she met with little acclaim. It was not until 15 years after her graduation from OCA that a neighbour noticed her studio door open one day and asked to look at her work. The neighbour decided to enter Barry's name in the City of Montreal Art Exhibition, which was the first important opportunity for her to exhibit her work.
Barry's friend, a reporter with an English language newspaper in Montréal, recommended Barry's work for inclusion in the exhibition, which was usually only for artists with established reputations. Barry delivered four paintings to the exhibition, and they sold before the show was opened to the public. She delivered four more, all of which were bought by the end of the show. It was after this success that a Montreal gallery contacted her and asked to represent her.
Barry's career began to take off, and she decided that it was time to deepen her study of art. She enrolled in a number of programs, one of which led her to Newfoundland in 1971. She was teaching an art workshop for the Outports Arts Foundation, and learning from other artists, when she fell in love with the rugged beauty of the Newfoundland landscape. She continued to return often to visit and to paint and make original fine art prints, teaching for Memorial University of Newfoundland's Extension Service and giving workshops at St. Michael's Printshop on the Southern Shore of the Avalon Peninsula.
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First Snow #1 1992 Lithograph, 4/10 55.7 x 40.3 cm
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When the St. Michael's Printshop left its original location in 1986, Barry bought the building and moved to Newfoundland permanently. She began to move away somewhat from the printmaking for which she had become well-known, to work in mixed media and painting again. In the years since, Barry has concentrated on both painting and printmaking, contributing much to the arts community in Newfoundland as an artist and as a member of St. Michael's Printshop. She was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from Memorial University of Newfoundland in 1997.
Barry's art conveys a sense of the true nature of the landscape without being literal. She expresses not only the form but the feeling of her subject, such as her interest in the look as well as the danger of natural elements like the sea or icebergs. As an artist, Barry has a strong affinity for desolate, open spaces. Her work is most often described as distinctive, bold and colourful—presenting the land as she sees it, not just as it is.
