Ann Barrett

MFA ’15 Fine Arts Low-Residency

A sunset. It happens every day, but we still enjoy watching the sun’s colorful exit as night falls. It washes away our human preoccupations and reminds us that we are small beings, embedded in a universe much larger and more powerful than we usually acknowledge. A sunset releases us from the myth of human supremacy, bestowing humility. Such a healthy reminder from a simple, everyday event. Through my artwork I offer such reminders, simple ones, yet vital to human well-being. My time at MassArt was crucial to developing the focus of my work. The two years and three summers of the Boston Low-Residency MFA were a time of freedom and connection with people on a similar path. The creative atmosphere at MassArt swept away the cobwebs of uncertainty and, as the t-shirt says, “made me fearless.”



Ann Barrett is a Midwesterner who came to New England via Hawai’i. She grew up camping in the mountains, which inspired her lifelong study of art and natural systems. Through her artwork, she communicates the variety and complexity of the natural world and the plants and animals that inhabit it. Ann earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2015.

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