Barbara Pettigrew is a visual artist based on the Fleurieu Peninsula in SouthAustralia. She has had a long and prolific career working in various mediums and styles and is recognised equally for her technical craft alongside her strength of vision. She has held multiple exhibitions including: Open Studio- Festival Fleurieu (2023, 2025); Through Different Eyes, group exhibition – SALA (2022); De Constructed Instruments – SALA (2019); Masks– SALA (2017); Mexico – SALA (2008) and Desert Landscapes –Desert Cave Coober Pedy (1990). Barbara has been an exhibitor and finalist in the Mclaren Vale Art Prize and has received a number of commissions to design and create art pieces more broadly in South Australia including: FlowerPots – Yankalilla District Council (2022); The Door Project –Festival Fleurieu (2015); SA Grand Prix Opening Ceremony – SA Tourism(1994); Sound Maze – Adelaide City Council (1994); Giants of the Deep– Investigator Science Centre (1993).
Alongside her work as a visual artist, Barbara has had an extensive career as a secondary school art teacher, having trained at the South Australian School of Art andWestern Teacher's College. In 2003 she received the ‘Education and ArtsMinister's Award for Excellence in Arts Teaching’. Since retiring from teaching, she has continued to teach art as therapy, providing a valued outlet to many within her community. Her philosophy is that art is a process of seeing, thinking, learning and even more importantly, a way of preserving existence. Colour has always been an inspirational presence in Barbara's life, with a fascination for colours in nature and an acute awareness of the power colour has in its connection to emotion, memories, places and culture.