Meet Cassandra Barney
Cassandra Barney was born and raised in Orem, Utah. She received her Master’s degree in Fine Arts from Brigham Young University in 2000. Life is truly art at Christensen Barney’s home as her husband is also an artist and teacher. Her three daughters enjoy creating along side their parents. In addition to her own children, Barney encourages many others to explore the world of art. She taught at The Waterford School for four years and continues to teach part time at BYU. Following in the footsteps of her renowned father, longtime Greenwich Workshop artist, James C. Christensen, Cassandra Barney brings to the Greenwich Workshop a celebration of the “feminine divine.” Cassandra Barney’s images capture the souls of heroines, everyday women who have found strength and personal victory in their diverse experiences. Her portraits carry a range of emotion reflective of the events that have shaped their character. Influenced by the art of the 16th century and the princess postcards she collected as a child, Cassandra Barney loves the simple storytelling found in portraits. “I loved that the characters were not always pretty, but looked like regular people playing dress up.” Cassandra says. Ambiguous and poignant, Cassandra’s women find strength in their femininity. “They are not vain, not beautiful and maybe some are melancholy and even show some sadness,” she says. “We might wonder what they are thinking.” Opulent and colorful, fantastical and historical, Cassandra Barney’s portraits of women are mixed with images of fruit, birds, flowers and chairs. “These images can have endless interpretations available to the viewer, but many of them have developed into symbols reflective of my life.” said Barney. “The flowers and vines symbolize the unruly beauty I find in my role as a mother. Birds in nest, sitting quietly, communicate the contentment that I feel in my home. Fruit has many meanings. It can be a symbol of life cycles as it seeds, ripens, spoils and re-seeds. Fruit can represent the outcome.”