Illia Barger

Barger’s large-scale, close-range floral paintings are vehicles for the exploration of tone, color, light. This includes the push and pull of the petals’ protrusions and cavities, the patterning of light and shadow, and passages of tonal variations. Barger possesses an unerring sense of color—akin to perfect pitch—and her ability to render any and all subject matter has earned her a reputation as an acclaimed muralist for both public and private collections.

Barger received her BFA from Cooper Union in 1985 and was awarded the prestigious Pollack-Krasner Foundation Award in 1999. Her work is in numerous public and private collections, and has been featured in the Huffington Post, New York Times, Philadelphia Magazine, and New Jersey Life. In 2016, she received a Dodge Foundation Grant and a proclamation from the County Executive of Mercer County which honors individuals for outstanding contributions to the community.