Phyllida Barlow

Phyllida Barlow
Born	4 April 1944 Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Nationality	British
Education	Chelsea College of Art, Slade School of Fine Art, University College, London
Known for	Sculpture

Phyllida Barlow CBE RA (born 1944 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England) is a British artist. Barlow studied at Chelsea College of Art (1960–63) and the Slade School of Art (1963–66). After joining the staff in the late 1960s, Barlow taught at the Slade School of Art for more than forty years before retiring in 2009 and is now Emerita Professor of Fine Art. Phyllida Barlow has had an important influence on younger generations of artists through her work and long teaching career in London art schools. At the Slade School of Fine Art, her students included Turner Prize-winning and nominated artists Rachel Whiteread and Angela de la Cruz. In 2011 Barlow became a Royal Academician and in 2015 she was made a CBE for her services to the arts in the Queen's New Year's Honours. In 2017, Barlow will represent Great Britain at the Venice Biennale.

Although born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1944 as her psychiatrist father Erasmus Darwin Barlow, a great-grandson of Charles Darwin, was stationed there at the time; Barlow was brought up in London. She studied at Chelsea College of Art (1960–63) under the tutelage of George Fullard who was to influence Barlow's perception of what sculpture can be. “Fullard, among others, was able to impart that the act of making was in itself an adventure. A sculpture that falls over or breaks is just as exciting as one that reveals itself perfectly formed. All the acts of making in the world are there to be plundered and contain within themselves the potential to be transferred to the studio and adapted.”

Whilst studying at Chelsea, Barlow met her husband artist and writer Fabian Peake, the son of Meryvn Peake, author of Gormenghast. She later attended the Slade School of Fine Art from 1963–66 to further study sculpture. Barlow and her husband have five children together.

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