Artist Statement
I search for joy in the everyday. I allow all of the small, cheap, regular items in my life to show me why they are worth celebrating. In my practice I assemble ordinary objects and often delicious snacks into bemusing combinations that make me smile. I photograph them in their often fugitive assembly so that I can slowly recreate them using oil paint on canvas. This is my method of exploring, playing, and preserving.
Toys and other items made for children especially interest me since they are often created with the sole intent to encourage joy and play. While most foods and snacks are enjoyed by adults and children alike, I am drawn to them for their connection to play. So often food is tied to play for children, both conceptually and literally and I love to bring them into a space where adults feel permission to experience play with food as well.
Biography
Katie Barron is a Tasmania-based artist working primarily in oils. Her practice consists of creating oil paintings to explore the concept of play and its relation to appreciation and joy.
Barron was selected for the 2023 RISE exhibition at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, celebrating ten of Tasmania’s most significant and collectible emerging artists. Barron has been selected as a finalist in numerous art prizes, including the Fisher’s Ghost Art Award, NSW, and was chosen as the winner of the 2023 Henry Jones Art Prize, Hobart. Her work is held in private and public collections throughout Australia, including the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery collection.
Barron was the 2024 Cossack Art Awards Artist in Residence in Western Australia and has shared her work both there and in Tasmania through artist talks, workshops, and exhibitions. In 2025, she was Artist in Residence at Scotch Oakburn College in Launceston, Tasmania, where she developed work alongside the students and presented an exhibition of student artworks and her own. Through her project painting cakes from the Australian Women’s Weekly Birthday Cake Book, Barron has been interviewed by ABC and the Australian Women’s Weekly.