Artwork copyright Mary Barnes. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission.

Ventilations, 1982

Mary Barnes
American (born 1952)

Location: Prosser High School, Prosser

About the Artwork

Ventilations is a colorful abstract painting by artist Mary Barnes. She created the composition intuitively. She begins by making marks onto the blank canvas, and she builds and responds to each shape and line. She notes that this piece “is about balance, risk and passage. The ambiguity of the space portrayed is intentional, expressing complexity. The work requires exploration. Follow a line, a shape, a color. Ponder not what I, the artist, was trying to do or say but rather form your own response and trust it.”

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Prosser School District.

About the Artist

Mary Barnes creates abstract and figurative paintings that explore the atmosphere of the natural landscape.
Barnes received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Colorado College, a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Pacific Northwest College of Art (in Portland, Oregon), and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Columbia University in New York City.