Meed Barnett — Feral Art and Fabulous Jewellery

Meed Barnett — Feral Art and Fabulous Jewellery - theHumm November 2021

By Sally Hansen

Art… and Soul

Meed Barnett’s diminutive stature is very deceptive. This recent addition to Almonte’s art scene lives up to her favourite descriptor of herself and her art — feral. She is fierce and refuses to be domesticated in any of the conventional senses of the word. As an artist she refuses to be confined to any one style, medium or philosophy. Our interview begins with her declaration that she would just as soon be referred to as “they”, but will let me use “she” if I prefer. As a creature of long habit it is easier for me to refer to an individual with a singular pronoun, even though Meed is anything but single. She is happily married to Bob Barnett for 40 years, and they have a grown child working in high tech in Los Angeles of whom they are very proud.

Meed was born in Greenwich Village and was a “Roaring Beatnik” throughout her high school years. Her personal history is a striking example of a timeworn adage: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Before my attempt to condense her convoluted story onto one page, however, I want to commend and recommend her art. Barnett loves nature and she loves to create narrative art — art that tells a story. Many of her works in watercolour or coloured pencil evoke memories of her time spent growing up in Woodstock, NY, and her love of the Catskill Mountains. The area is an early and influential hotbed of arts, crafts and music in the eastern U.S.A. Barnett was particularly drawn to the Hudson River School of art. Her paintings reflect its influence, especially in her loving renditions of time spent roaming in the area of the Kaaterskill Clove, a distinctive feature or “cleft” in the mountains attracting tourists to this day. In addition to her celebrations of nature, another favourite subject is things reverting to nature such as ruins of old structures.

I’m pretty sure that the couple’s new home in downtown Almonte contains more paintings per square metre of wall space than any other house I have visited. About one third are treasured works by other artists, many to whom she is related. In addition, Meed has two studios: one for painting, and one for creating wearable art in the form of intricately beautiful jewellery she has hand-forged from copper, brass and sterling. The two necklaces she created to celebrate her wedding to Bob are exquisite. They are not for sale, but her treasure trove of necklaces, earrings and even belts could elevate your Christmas shopping to new heights.

Barnett’s bio provides an apt condensation of the highly entertaining account she shared with me of her life’s eclectic journey thus far. In her own words with a few minor edits: “Fourth-generation artist and craftsperson, I could hold brushes before I could hold a fork. Born in Greenwich Village, New York City, I was taken to Woodstock, NY, at age four, where I grew up surrounded by the art and influence of many fine painters who were working in the area at that time. The end of family life led to my many living arrangements in the Woodstock area, including an Episcopal convent and two European homes.

“My first art instruction came from my grandfather, Rudolf Wetterau, who worked out of New York City as an advertising artist and oil painter. At age 15, I won a summer scholarship to the Woodstock branch of the Art Students League of New York City (now the Woodstock School of Art), and later won all available high school graduation awards for art. I studied art at SUNY New Paltz, and years later at the University of Hawaii. I hand-finished large portrait photography at two Rochester, NY, studios for several years. With this and other jobs, I self-financed a BA (SUNY at Buffalo), and an MA (University of Hawaii).

“I was at times: a camp counselor, a welder, an English tutor, a full-time teacher, a retail administrator, a dishwasher, a portrait studio photofinisher, a dental assistant, a refugee resettlement worker, a singer, an art teacher, and of course an artist and illustrator. While in Honolulu I illustrated teaching materials for the State of Hawaii Public School System. After moving to Philadelphia, PA, I studied with Francis McCarthy at Fleischer Art Memorial.

“Marriage brought a move to southern New Jersey. I conducted a papier-mâché puppet theatre workshop with students at Atlantic County New School in 1990, culminating in a feature-length performance, and taught other art classes at the school. Over the years I have shown in many juried exhibitions, have had many one-person shows, and have won numerous awards, including several best-of-shows. I have judged in several important regional juried shows. For five years, I was the art teacher for grades K–8 at St. Nicholas Catholic School in Egg Harbor City. For eleven years, I maintained studios at the Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts in Millville, NJ, and in Galloway, NJ.”

Barnett credits her father’s father with setting her on the path to becoming an artist: “He was the biggest influence in my life.” Much of the upheaval in her past, after her mother’s disappearance from her life when Meed was only four years old, was the result of friction with the older women in her life. She was not “girly” enough to suit them, not interested in clothes and makeup, and thus “queer” in their eyes. She remains securely non-gender conforming, pleased that her father liked sewing, and comfortable that she loves cooking. She credits summers spent at a YWCA camp as her best experiences growing up. There were also three high school teachers who supported her belief in her own worth and talent. Meed was taught to play chess by Bobby Fischer, whom she remembers with deserved disaffection.

Meed Barnett is an extraordinary and extremely interesting person, an accomplished artist and jeweller, and, luckily for theHumm’s readership, happy to invite you into her home by appointment to share her story and her arts. Her coordinates appear on the back of her Artist Trading Card where I photographed her next to her collage painting of her mother.WHO Meed Barnett

Artist Trading Card