ARTIST BIO: Barry A. Noland

March 17, 2008

 

Barry was born and raised in the southern Illinois town of Cairo.  He moved to Nashville to attend college at Tennessee State University where he majored in English. He also did a short stint at Belmont University to pursue a minor in Music Business. It was his passion for popular music and desire to become a songwriter that eventually led him to find his niche as a photographer.

 

In the late 90's, Barry began to seriously pursue modeling as a way to fund his songwriting efforts in addition to his regular day work. Barry was able to work with several local photographers and artists as well as photographers on both coasts, north, south, and Canada. Working with teaching photographers and seasoned veterans, he soon got the notion to experiment on the other side of the camera. His innate talent was immediately noticed by more experienced photographers. Their encouragement, as well as positive reinforcement from his models, led him to actively pursue both commercial and art photography as a vocation. Several models, actors, and buildings later, Barry had his 1st art exhibition in 2003.

 

Though his portfolio encompasses various genres from editorial imagery and figure studies to black and white plant studies, his forte has become close-up abstractions of decaying objects & structures that explore the beauty of the typically unseen and unnoticed.

 

Barry has become a regular contributor of his art to local Nashville charity functions—including annual fundraisers for HIV/AIDS, cancer, civil rights, and music education (Nashville Jazz Workshop).

 

He is an active member and contributor to 3 Nashville area artist groups--Untitled, Plowhaus, and Nashville Artist’s Guild.

 

Barry’s work has been recognized and awarded both regionally and nationally. His most recent accomplishment was having works selected for the permanent art collection at the prestigious Kinsey Institute for Sex, Gender and Reproduction at Indiana University.