Honoring the Artist: Barbara Ernst Prey

This week's cover artist, Barbara Ernst Prey, has a lot to be proud of in her 40-year career. While her professional accomplishments are commendable, it's the personal connection to her mother, a respected artist and head of design at Pratt Institute, that Ms. Prey pays homage to every chance she gets.

The cover is a good example, the five chairs lined up representing a metaphor for the family unit, not only complete but enduring as well. Yet in real life, things weren't as predictable, Ms. Prey's mother having died before the painting was created.

Q: The cover work is full of irony, it seems to me.

A: Yes. The chairs in reality will never be straight as they are in my painting. The French responded to the subject matter, even though they couldn't possibly know it's a metaphor. The work is part of my forthcoming exhibition in Paris in a seventeenth century estate, Mona Bismark's former townhouse.

Q: That's ironical, too. These chairs are so American; they don't seem to fit into an estate like that. More power to the French for recognizing the piece's value. How did the exhibition come about?

A: It's been two years in the making; Sarah Cash, the Bechoefer Curator at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, arranged it. It was fun to see my works coming from all over the country for the show.

Q: It's like a retrospective because it has so many of your works, 80 in all, going back a long way. What are some highlights?

A: Early work I did for The New Yorker and Gourmet Magazine, four paintings commissioned by NASA, artwork for the White House Christmas card.

Q: I know you've traveled a lot in Europe and lived outside the US; you must look forward to being in Paris again and just enjoying that experience.

A: I'm staying for a few days on my own in The Marais. I'm looking forward to having the leisure of going to museums. And putting on my sneakers and walking around. Of course, there's the opening and a lecture I'm giving. It's work, but I'm looking forward to it. If I thought about it, I'd be nervous.

Q: You're known particularly for your landscapes. What are you doing now? Has your style changed?

A: I'm doing large watercolors now that are a little more abstract. You could say my hands are "looser."

Q: I'm amazed at your diverse background. For example at Williams College you played varsity tennis. I assume you didn't do that when you got your masters at Harvard (laughing). How about your art background? It included art history as well as studio art.

A: Yes, I was fortunate to be awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and a Henry Luce Foundation grant that allowed me to study in Europe and Asia.

Q: Any advice for emerging artists?

A: As an artist, try and be better. Expand your horizons.

Q:You certainly have.

- Marion Wolberg Weiss

Contact Ms. Prey at www.barbaraprey.com

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