Clare Barker

Clare Barker is a painter and enamellist living in Tamaki Makaurau Auckland. She is a second-generation enamellist, learning the technique from her mother, Mary Barker. She uses narrative and allegory from mythology, religion and literature in her work. Her source materials are from magazines, advertisements, social media and art history, as well as curated photography. Enamelling is a passion, for its family connections, its history, its alchemy and process, and its enduring beauty and permanence, amidst today's proliferation of digital imagery. Barker is also a figurative and portrait artist. She has a Post Graduate Diploma in Fine Arts from Elam, and has studied at Browne School of Art. In 2022 and 2023 she attended summer schools at the Florence Academy of Art and the Scuola d'Arte Sacra Firenze, and in 2024 she attended intensive workshops with Ruth Fitton in Seville, and Costa Dvorezky in Tuscany. She has also studied mosaics in Ravenna under Luciana Notturni. Barker was a finalist in the 2024 Walker and Hall Waiheke National Art Award. She has a strong interest in art history, having studied Renaissance and contemporary art history at the University of Auckland.