Art wends and winds its way into our lives by mysterious means. Angie Barry, curator at the Gadsden Arts Center and Museum, knows this all too well. She is surrounded by art at every turn, from her 2-year-old son’s drawings that fill her desk to the gallery exhibitions she designs while abuzz with creative energy.
Her home is as carefully curated as her workplace with one of her favorite pieces acquired from John Lytle Wilson. The former Tallahassee artist was commissioned by her husband’s friend to paint a piece for Barry’s wedding and features two robots being soldered together by a monkey.
Another painting serendipitously found its way back into her possession after having hung in the airport for many years. It was one of her own, a self-portrait of her first-grade self, that had been framed, matted and returned to her one day. She vividly remembers being frustrated at age six by her rendering with its un-proportional arms, but laughs now at how detail orientated she was in meticulously painting pigtails in her hair and bracelets on her wrists.
“Art is part of human expression and I can’t imagine life without it,” said Barry. “Something about making it with your hands helps your brain to process in such a different way. I think it connects us with each other.”
Getting hands-on with art had always been her favorite activity, though it wasn’t until high school that she considered pursuing it seriously. At Florida State University, she majored in theater for a semester with her sights on set design, but quickly realized the intense atmosphere wasn’t for her. Instead, she found her groove in the art history department, and with the full support of her parents, graduated with her bachelor’s degree in the subject.
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