Barbara Mata was born in Philadelphia, PA. At the age of 11 her school took a field trip to The Philadelphia Museum of Art. Here, for the first time, she viewed abstract art and was immediately overwhelmed with the desire to become an abstract painter. She then produced her first abstract painting which was entered into an art contest for seven schools from three states. She took second place. She went on to complete her BA in Sociology at the University of NH in Durham. Primarily self taught, she took classes at The School of the Museum Of Fine Arts in Boston, MA where she applied and was accepted but was unable to attend due to financial issues. Today she resides in Newmarket, NH with her husband. She creates mixed media abstract art in her studio located in the Newmarket Mills drawing inspiration from social and physical
environments which are often intertwined with each other and subconscious visual experiences that appear randomly on her canvas.