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Born: February 5, 1922 |
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Place of Birth: Northampton, England |
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Death: February 5, 2010 |
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Place of Death: Chapel Hill, NC |
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Occupation: Emeritus Professor of Arts |
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Robert John Barnard
February 5, 1922 -
February 5, 2010
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Robert J. Barnard, artist, educator, and professor emeritus of the art department of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill died on his 88th birthday, February 5, 2010 in Chapel Hill, NC. He is survived by his wife, Linda Jenkins Barnard, and son, Toby C. Barnard of Finstock, England, a history professor at Hereford College, Oxford University.
Barnard came to the United States in the late 1950s to pursue a career in art and art education. His primary medium was painting. His art, spanning a career of some sixty years, is included in public and private collections locally and in Europe, including Ackland Art Museum, Amsterdam, Rome, and Oxford among others. His work has been shown nationally including at galleries in San Francisco, Dallas, Miami, and New York. His most recent exhibitions include Lee Hansley Gallery in Raleigh, and an upcoming show in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Barnard designed and taught classes for training art teachers in the UK and US, serving at UNC Chapel Hill as Director of Programs in Art Education and being elected the first President of the North Carolina Art Education Association. He received research grants, was recognized for distinguished service in, and contributions to art education, and consulted in the US and abroad on curriculum and art.
Barnard lectured on art training, teacher education, and the importance of art in daily life. He was a spirited and imaginative professor committed to developing his students’ potential, and he mentored scores of art educators. A highlight of his career was the opportunity to tour the country to gather information for a report to the Rockefeller Foundation on the state of art education in the US.
Born in Northampton, England, in 1922, Robert Barnard grew up in a household where creativity was the norm. His mother was a concert soprano. Among other pursuits, his father built meticulously accurate scale models such as ocean liners and railway engines for businesses and industry. His younger brother, who also became an artist, joined in his growing experimentations with art.
Barnard's early grasp of events leading up to World War II led him first to join a peace movement and later to enlist in the British Army as an under-age youth of 17. As a commissioned officer in the Royal Engineers, he was charged with creative and destructive tasks such as both building bridges and blowing them up.
Barnard remained in the military for six years, emerging with only minor physical injuries but with lasting effects to his mind and soul that subsequently influenced his art. Having completed his military duty, Barnard pursued his education, and in 1948 received his certificate in art from the Ministry of Education in England, studying at Bristol University and Burderop Park College.
At the forefront of his creative process was the fact that he had lived through a period of extraordinary social and technological changes. It was his endeavor to grasp, encompass, and distill unique, revealing creations from those unprecedented influences. Many of his personal passions --traveling, reading, motor racing, and especially his appreciation of the complexities contemporary music -- found their way into his unique form of visual expression.
William Robert John Barnard is pre-deceased by his mother, Elsie Lee-Andrews Barnard; father, William Barnard; and brother Richard Gerald Clift Barnard. He is survived by Linda, wife of forty-six years; son, Toby; nephew, Howard and wife Polly of Charwelton, Northamptonshire, England; nephew Tom and wife Natalie of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England; cousin Peter Andrews and wife Laura of Vancouver, Canada; sister-in-law Sue J. Luger, husband Alan Luger of Louisville, Kentucky, and their daughter Annie; and friend Jan Onland and partner Olga of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, February 20th at Banks Methodist Church and will begin at 2:00 o'clock in the afternoon. Memorials gifts may be made to Doctors Without Borders USA, P.O. Box 5030, Hagerstown, MD 21741. Cremation Society of the Carolinas. Online condolences may left at www.cremnc.com.
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