Barbara Gillette

Barbara Gillette (b. 1940) is a Akron-based artist known for her monoprints and vibrant, thought provoking pastels. She depicts landscapes in the majority of her work, focusing on Medina County and other parts of rural Ohio. Gillette is “especially interested in the tension between suburban and rural areas.” Her pieces often juxtapose the sterile, flat planes of housing developments with the rich, natural beauty of regional landscapes, calling into question the priorities of modern life.

Gillette also prints in a variety of formats, stating “Printmaking has allowed me to explore other ways of making images and in the process has renewed my love of drawing”.

Gillette received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in drawing with minors in painting and art history from the University of Akron. In her professional life, she was a guest artist at Medina Schools and an Artist in Residence at the University of Akron and the Wayne County Schools. 

Gillette has had art exhibited within the Cleveland Museum of Art’s May Show (1986,1987, 1993, 1990), the Butler Institute of American Art (1998), the Ohio Arts Council Riffe Gallery (1998), the U.S. Embassy at the Republic of Moldova, U.S. State Department (2004), and the Indianapolis Art League (1991). In 2011, her contributions to the arts in Northeast Ohio were honored with the award of Outstanding Visual Artist by the Akron Area Arts Alliance. She has been represented by the Harris-Stanton Gallery located in Akron, Ohio for over 25 years. Her work is part of the permanent collections of the Cleveland Art Museum, Case Western Reserve University, Society National Bank in Cleveland, Ohio, the law firm of Squires, Sanders, and Dempsey in Cleveland, Ohio, and B.F. Goodrich’s corporate headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina.