At the heart of Kathy Barker’s art is a true passion for portraiture. Trained at Wimbledon School of Art and later at the Charles Cecil Studio (Florence, Italy) in the atelier fashion. Kathy was a visiting postgraduate tutor to West Dean College for a number of years and had a book published in 2005 on Drawing and Painting the Clothed figure with Crowood Press.

Mostly Kathy works to commission but has exhibited work at selective exhibitions including the Royal Society of Portrait Painting and with the Society of Women Artists. More recently Kathy exhibited with the Wales Contemporary 2025 group show and also had a solo exhibition at the Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall the same year.

Kathy has been a regular contributor to The Artist magazine and recently the Artist and Illustrator Magazine which featured her work.