Beth A. Barnett brings sharp eye, sharper paintings to Interzone cafe

Although her paintings in oils on hard board startle the viewer with a momentary sense that the images could have been made with a camera, Beth A. Barnett politely objects to the attachment of art-movement terms like Photorealism to her work.

Photography is one of her primary tools, however, providing images as seemingly banal as a train yard in British Columbia, or an alley view of nondescript apartment houses in Chicago, as the basis for Barnett's pictures.

"I don't try to match the exact photo," Barnett explains. "The photo aids me in retrieving what I remember."

The result is something the artist defines as "more on a border between enhanced realism and photorealism": pictures that glow with color and arrest the eye with a wealth of minute details. The time Barnett puts into her paintings, more than 100 hours on a recent work, yields visual feasts that invite close and repeated scrutiny.

A native Midwesterner and Ohio University graduate, Barnett, 30, settled in Corvallis in 2000, which is also when she returned to painting in earnest. Now between jobs, she migrated to Portland in February and has taken the opportunity not only to paint more but to increase production on a sideline that is both artistic and useful: an illustrated line of books such as the "Rabbit Food Cookbook," which is heading into a new edition, and blank books for addresses and recipes.

Barnett is also a Web designer and draws for an assortment of occasions, such as Rob Gandara's 2006 bid for the office of Corvallis' mayor, for which she created a logo.

Although her work reflects an attention to detail that is systematically controlled, Barnett laughs when she's asked if her university studies in the more fact-oriented areas of geology and U.S. history have influenced her art. A lifelong devotee of the representational as opposed to the abstract, Barnett says she has always tended to focus on "analysis" and scrupulous organization, an admission borne out not only by her work but also by the exceptionally friendly Web site, www.bethbee.com, she designed to showcase it.

Barnett launched her study of art with extracurricular classes as a 5-year-old. By high school she was receiving college-level training through the Indianapolis campus of Indiana University and Purdue University, and says learning to work with oils there helped to de-emphasize the often "intimidating" aspects of the challenging medium.

Preferring the smoothness of hard board to canvas, Barnett frequently tends toward a generous 24x36 inch surface. "I tend to want to paint bigger so I can get the detail," she says.

As a student, Barnett says, she felt obliged to attempt work with "a strong political or social message."

"I tried to fit myself into that mold," she recalls, perceiving her efforts then as her means of creating "legitimate" work.

More recently, however, Barnett has found greater freedom and artistic fulfillment by "reveling in the beauty you see in everyday life, often fleeting images" she captures first with her camera. Painting from these seemingly simple images allows Barnett to create what she feels is "a more intuitive and positive message."

Her determination to reveal a unique perspective on the ordinary is brilliantly manifested in her landscapes and in works she calls "Modern Scenes," and nowhere more vividly than in "Speed Queen," a reflectively gleaming depiction of Laundromat machines in a row, which won both a first prize and the People's Choice Award in the 2005 Howland Open Community Exhibit.

Barnett captures the play of light and shadow on the metal with a double-take-inspiring authenticity, and, indeed, a beauty one would not usually seek in such a venue.

Having found a way to feel "much more productive and motivated" in her work, Barnett now faces the creator's dilemma.

"I'm new with this being an artist thing, and actually selling pieces," she says. "I get very attached, and it takes some time to let go."

One gets the feeling that, after viewing her impressive body of work thus far, she might as well get used to it.

CHECK IT OUT

An exhibit of work by painter, photographer, and cookbook author Beth A. Barnett is on display through June at Interzone Coffeehouse, 1563 N.W. Monroe Ave., Corvallis. Barnett's oils are painted from photographs she's made; her work "Speed Queen," a super-realistic painting of a Laundromat, won two awards at the 2005 Howland Open Community Exhibit at ArtCentric. The public can meet the artist and see her work at a reception from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 2, at Interzone.