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Barbara was appointed by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve on the National Council on the Arts, the advisory board to the National Endowment for the Arts. Members are chosen for their widely recognized knowledge of the arts and their established record of distinguished service or achievement in the arts. Her paintings are in many prominent private, corporate and museum collections worldwide including: The White House, The Brooklyn Museum, The Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Farnsworth Art Museum, and the Kennedy Space Center. Barbara was honored with a major retrospective exhibit in Paris curated by Sarah Cash, Curator at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. Her painting for the official White House Christmas Card, commissioned by the President is part of the White House permanent collection. MASS MoCA commissioned Barbara to paint the worlds largest watercolor for their new Building 6 which opened this summer. NASA commissioned Barbara to paint four paintings for their permanent collection. The x-43, the fastest aircraft in the world, is part of the NASA|Art: 50 Years of Exploration exhibit organized by the Smithsonian Museum which travels to twelve museums nationwide. In addition to the Columbia Tribute, her painting of the International Space Station and Discovery Shuttle Return to Flight are on permanent display at the Kennedy Space Center. Since 2004 she has been an artistic ambassador with the State Department’s Arts in Embassies program with exhibits in American Embassies in Paris, Madrid, Prague, Oslo. Her artwork is included in over thirty Embassies and Consulates worldwide. The New York State Senate honored Prey with the Senate’s “Women of Distinction Award”. She joins previous honorees Susan B. Anthony, Harriet Tubman and Eleanor Roosevelt. The Women of Distinction program was created as a tribute to outstanding New York women. Raynham Hall Museum honored Barbara at their annual Gala for her accomplishments and contribution to American Art as will The Heckscher Museum of Art in 2011. As a spokewoman for American art, she was invited to lecture at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. on “The Watercolors of Winslow Homer” for the recent Winslow Homer exhibit and at the Corcoran Gallery of Art for the John Singer Sargent exhibit as well as at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid. She gave the opening lecture for the All-Ivy Intellectual Interchange Series: Arts in America in New York City and was moderator for the panel “Women at the Helm of American Art” also in New York City. She graduated from Williams College with honors in Art History and earned a masters degree from Harvard University. She received a Fulbright Scholarship and a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, enabling her to travel, study, work and exhibit extensively in Europe and Asia. Barbara has illustrated a number of books and for many years her artwork appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Gourmet Magazine, Good Housekeeping and other publications. For more information - email:studio@barbaraprey.com website: www.barbaraprey.com.
