painting: tona barkley
Self-Portrait
about the painter: tona barkley
Tona Barkley’s paintings usually feature figures—both realistic and expressionistic--rendered in oil, watercolor, gouache or pen and ink, including commissioned portraits. Many depict traditional string musicians.
Since her retirement in 2006 from Kentucky Educational Television, where she served as communications director, Tona has been able to work full-time as an artist. A collection of her music related works are displayed as part of the permanent collection of the University of Kentucky Hospital. Tona painted the official portrait of former Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Janet Stumbo, and it will be hung in the Kentucky State Capitol later this year. Her work is included in the Brown-Forman collection in Louisville. Her wood engraving for the broadside of a poem by her late friend, Kentucky Poet Laureate Jane Vance, was printed by Larkspur Press in Monterey, KY. Also a quiltmaker, Tona designed the Celebration Quilt for the opening of the Kentucky History Center in 1999.
Tona received a bachelor’s degree in English from Vassar College, where she also had art classes with Linda Nochlin and Sydney Geist. She studied briefly at Cooper Union and continues her study of painting and drawing through workshops and classes.
A native of Paducah, she lives on a farm in Owen County, Kentucky. She involves her eight grandchildren in her art and the traditional Kentucky music that she and husband John Harrod play.
Visit her website here. You can find her on Facebook at Tona Barkley - Artist
