Barbie Kjar

b. 1957

Barbie Kjar is a Tasmanian based artist and educator, specialising in printmaking and drawing. She has completed a Masters of Fine Art at RMIT, Melbourne; Bachelor of Fine Arts and Education, University of Tasmania, Hobart. She has exhibited in Australia and overseas in Barcelona and Tokyo, China, Korea, Siberia, France, Canada, USA and Japan.

She has undertaken an art print residence in Spain and Draw International in Caylus, France, along with residencies in Rome, Barcelona, Havana, San Francisco, Mexico City and Tokyo and been the recipient of several Australia Council grants. She was awarded the James Northfield scholarship at Australian Print Workshop (2019) and her work was selected for Impact 10, International Print Exhibition in Santander, Spain (2019). She was the winner of the Bay of Fires Art Prize in 2015.

Her work has recently been selected in significant art prizes including National Works on Paper exhibition, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery (2020); Geelong Print Prize exhibition, Geelong Art Gallery, Flow, Contemporary Watercolour exhibition, Wollongong Art Gallery, Lyn McCrae Drawing exhibition, Noosa Gallery (2019); Paul Guest Drawing Prize exhibition (2018): Highly Commended Waterhouse Science and Art Prize, Art Gallery South Australia (2017); Dobell Drawing Prize exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Barbie Kjar’s work has been acquired by Australian National Gallery, Canberra; Parliament House, Canberra; Wagga Wagga Gallery; National Gallery of Victoria; Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery; Fremantle Arts Centre; Grafton Regional Gallery; Queensland University of Technology; Gold Coast City Art Gallery; University of Southern Queensland and is held in private collections in USA, France, Sweden, England and Australia.