Fearlessly following her muse: Artist Rosemary Barrett’s upcoming show in Easthampton is rich with surrealist oil paintings

Holyoke artist Rosemary Barrett has worked in many mediums, but her upcoming show in Easthampton will highlight a collection of oil paintings. Barrett’s show, “The Awakening,” will be featured at Big Red Frame in Easthampton from Saturday, June 7, through Saturday, June 28, and will be featured in Easthampton’s June Art Walk on Saturday, June 7, from 4 to 7 p.m.

Many of the works in “The Awakening” will be paintings of lotus flowers, which Barrett finds not only beautiful but also resonant in the current moment: “The whole idea of them really moved me. Historically, the lotus has shown up for centuries — centuries. And one of the things I loved about it that I thought was really pertinent for our time right now is that it represents commitment and optimism from the future, and it rises from muddy waters,” she said.

In fact, the title of the exhibition comes from the lotus’ reputation as a sacred flower: “I really feel like there are awakenings going on all over the planet,” said Barrett, “and I like to think that I’m a part of that.”

Barrett grew up in an artistic family; she, her mom, and her two younger sisters are all working artists. (“One of my sisters was a science fiction illustrator. Her autograph is actually worth money, unlike my other sister and I, but we’re working at it,” she said.) Her mother’s side of the family, Barrett said, has long been “really rich in musicians and vaudeville,” and she can trace her lineage to Shem Drowne, the sculptor who created the grasshopper atop Faneuil Hall in Boston.

Barrett went to art school in Worcester, and her second year was covered by a full scholarship. She spent time creating work in New York City, then later taught art, which she still does. Eventually she moved to the Pioneer Valley, where she raised her children. They, too, are creatives; her daughter is a muralist, and her son is a musician.

“It was so refreshing to come back here, because everywhere else I lived just didn’t have the quality of life that’s available here, if you’re seeking it out,” Barrett said.

In her early artistic career, Barrett worked in assemblages, an art form that involves collecting and arranging eclectic materials. Hers are often hard to describe: In one work, two black forms appear to crouch, as if lying in wait, in front of what looks like a wheat field underneath a red sunset. In another, an illustration of a man’s shouting face adorns a heart-shaped balloon on a boot inside a wooden box.

“That was really playful stuff that I loved doing,” she said. “I mean, I had never experienced anything in my artwork like I did with the assemblage. It was like I stepped away and they just came together. I would feel like, ‘Where did that come from? Wow, who did that?’ ”

Other works in her portfolio include paintings of birds: In one work, a trio of egrets floats miniature globes on water as a few other globes sit nearby in a nest, like eggs waiting to hatch; in another, a heron perches atop an orange teapot floating on water. Another collection of paintings features solitary wooden boats floating on the water with no passengers, motors, rudders or oars.

All told, much of Barrett’s work could be called “surreal.”

“I love that word,” she said. “I really feel like I am a surrealist, even though people always think of, like, Dalí, and I’m much quieter than that.

“Part of the creative spirit, I think, is to be open,” she added. “I know some people just do the same thing because all of their lives, they get caught in that groove, which to me would seem hellacious. They always have to perform and do the same thing over and over and over again. That repels me. I just keep learning because with every new medium that I might pick up or technique, it’s the learning curve. I love the learning curve.”

So what does Barrett hope visitors take away from her show in June?

“The paintings!” she laughed.

“Besides that,” she added, “maybe wanting to follow what I’m doing. Maybe I would pick up a student. Maybe the people will feel like I am really part of the community, and I hope people are encouraged.”

After that, she’s got a show in Athens, N.Y., to prepare for, but beyond that, her next plan is “I have to listen to my muse and just keep painting as the paintings come up.”

Carolyn Brown can be reached at [email protected].