Del Kathryn Barton facts for kids

Del Kathryn Barton (born 11 December 1972) is a well-known Australian artist. She started drawing when she was very young. Later, she studied art at UNSW Art & Design in Sydney.

Del Kathryn Barton became famous for her amazing fantasy artworks. She has shown her art in many exhibitions in Australia and other countries. She won the prestigious Archibald Prize for portraiture twice, in 2008 and 2013. In 2015, her animated film, Oscar Wilde’s The Nightingale and the Rose, won an important award for best Australian short film.

Early Life and Art

Del Kathryn Barton grew up in the bushland near the Blue Mountains in Australia. Her parents were free-spirited, and they often lived in simple places like sheds or tents.

As a child, Barton sometimes felt sad. Art became a way for her to feel better. She drew all the time and used her imagination a lot. Her early drawings often featured fairies, animals, nature, and maps.

In 1990, she started studying at the College of Fine Arts. She was already a very skilled artist. She graduated in 1993 and even taught art there for a few years.

Art Career Highlights

Del Kathryn Barton had her first art exhibition in 1995. Since then, she has held many solo exhibitions in Sydney and Melbourne.

Some of her solo shows include:

• The Nightingale and the Rose at Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) in Melbourne (2016)
• the highway is a disco in Singapore (2015)
• Electro Orchid at Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in Sydney (2014)
• The Nightingale and the Rose at Heide Museum of Modern Art (2012)

On March 7, 2008, Barton won the Archibald Prize. This is a very important award for portraiture in Australia. Her winning painting was called You are what is most beautiful about me, a self portrait with Kell and Arella. It was a painting of herself with her two children. Barton said the painting showed her love for her children. She also said being a mother changed how she saw herself.

In 2013, she won the Archibald Prize again. This time, she painted a portrait of the actor Hugo Weaving. She believes that painting portraits helps her to be very focused and disciplined.

Del Kathryn Barton has also been a finalist for the Archibald Prize in other years, including 2018. Her art is shown by the Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in Sydney.

She has also taken part in many group exhibitions. These include shows in New York, Melbourne, and Adelaide. One notable exhibition was Express Yourself: Romance Was Born for Kids at the National Gallery of Victoria in 2014.

Animated Film Work

Del Kathryn Barton created an animated film called Oscar Wilde’s The Nightingale and the Rose. It first showed at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival in 2015. It was also shown at the 2015 Melbourne International Film Festival.

The film won the Film Victoria Erwin Rado Award for Best Australian Short Film. Because of her work on the film, she also received a special fellowship in 2015.

In 2020, her sculpture, the infinite adjustment of the throat...and then, a smile, was part of the "Know my name: Australian women artists 1900 to now" exhibition. This show was at the National Gallery of Australia.

Artistic Style

Del Kathryn Barton's paintings often look like fantasy worlds. They feature female figures mixed with flowers and plants. In some of her later works, she has also included photographic images of male figures.

She often uses digital collages in her art. She also adds materials like gouache paint, glitter, sequins, and markers.

Barton usually starts a new artwork with a drawing. This drawing might be of an emotion, a movement, or something from a dream. She then turns these drawings into very detailed paintings. She often works on several paintings at the same time. Each artwork can take many months to finish.

Movies

In 2022, Del Kathryn Barton's first feature film, Blaze, was released. She directed the movie and helped write the script. The film tells the story of a young girl who has been through a difficult experience and has a very strong imagination.

Barton and Huna Amweero won an award for their script for Blaze at the 2022 AWGIE Awards. The script also won the 2023 Betty Roland Prize for Scriptwriting. This was part of the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards.

Art Collections

Del Kathryn Barton's artworks are held in important galleries across Australia:

• National Gallery of Australia, which has four prints from her series that's when I was another tree from 2007
• National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
• Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
• QAGOMA (Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art), Brisbane
• Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide