Barbara Neijna is an artist who has created large-scale monumental sculpture, site-specific installations, landscape design, lighting, furniture, books, functional objects and photography that communicate issues concerning survival and the environment, beginnings, and endings. Her vision for art, both concrete and conceptual, is the interaction and involvement of her artwork with people and their surroundings. Her work celebrates the experience of being part of a larger community and her aesthetic intent visually establishes a renewed balance between the urban environment and nature. The primal essence of Neijna’s work relates to origins in natures, repetition, and beginnings.

Neijna’s art can be seen in public and private museum collections, gallery exhibitions and installations. In addition to sculpture and drawing, Neijna is a photographer using large format film cameras and digital equipment. The photographic images she creates are not only experienced in gallery exhibitions, but are also integrated into the structure of monumental projects. She has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in the United States and Europe and has been commissioned to create more than 50 major public works of art during her prolific career. Some of these commissions include the General Services Administration – Strom Thurmond Federal Building in Columbia, South Carolina; the Redevelopment Authority for the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; the Broward County Judicial Complex for the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida; the Marta Garnet Light Rail System in Atlanta, Georgia; numerous University and Corporate commissions and recently, a site specific work of art for Bal Harbour, Miami, Florida. In 2008, Neijna completed what has been considered the largest public work of art in modern time. She had the unique opportunity for an artist to create a massive work of art for Miami International Airport that integrates art with the architecture, addressing walls, floors, and curtain glass. The art contribution collectively reads as the essence of the space, giving the public an opportunity to experience a South Florida environment that is uniquely different from all other environments. Neijna has exhibited at the Miami Art Museum, Miami, Florida; the Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida Art Museum, Deland, Florida, Ambrosino Gallery, Miami, Florida; Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami, Florida; Musee du Pantheon National Hatien, Port au Prince, Haiti; Musee Cagnes Sur Mer, France; the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida., and the Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase, New York. Her work has been included in shows at the Aaron Berman Gallery, New York; Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, DC; Brunnier Museum, Ames, Iowa; Ritter Art Gallery at Florida Atlantic University; and Gran Palais, Paris, France. Neijna’s installations, sculpture, drawing and photography are represented in major collections throughout the United States and Europe among them, the Boca Raton Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, Miami Art Museum, Columbus Ohio Museum of Art, Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Brunnier Art Museum, Lowe Art Museum, Syracuse University Museum of Art and the Martin Z. Margulies Museum. Neijna is the recipient of numerous awards, most recently she received the prestigious International Award from the Art and Works Awards in conjunction with the World Architecture Festival for the best site-specific art in the working environment in the past three years. Additionally, Neijna has won the National Endowment for the Arts Award, the South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship, and the Tiffany Foundation Fellowship. Neijna has been written about extensively, particularly in Donald Kuspit’s many essays on Neijna’s work, including, “Neijna, A Concept of the Environment.” Her work is included in major art books and art publications by Virginia Mecklenberg, Peter Plagens, Richard Vine, Helen Kohen and Beth Dunlop.

Education
1960 – 1961 Academia di Belle Arte di Brera – Milan, Italy   Graduate Program
1959 Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY BFA
Fellowships and Awards
1999 South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship
1975 National Endowment for the Arts/Hillsborough County
1959 – 1961 Louis Comfort Tiffany Traveling Fellowship
Teaching
1968 – 1974 Ft Lauderdale Museum of Art School of Art
1962 – 1974 New School of Fine Arts Miami, Florida
1962 – 1968 University of Miami, Department of Fine Arts, Sculpture
  Selected Exhibitions
2010 Boca Raton Museum of Art, Miami, Fl. “Neijna”
2006 Miami Art Museum, “Collections Exhibitions”
2005 Ambrosino Gallery, Art Basel, Miami, Fl.
2003 Locust Gallery, Miami, Florida
2002 Bijou Contemporain XXXIII International, Cagnes-Sur-Mer, France
2002 Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, N.Y.
2000 Sarasota Biennial, Sarasota, Fl.
1999 Ambrosino Gallery, Group Show – Miami, Fl.
1999 South Florida Cultural Consortium, Award Exhibition
1998 Gramercy Art Fair, Guadalajara, Mexico, Ambrosino Gallery
1998 Gramercy International, New York, NY. Ambrosino Gallery
1998 Art in Public Places, Exhibition, Metropolitan Dade County
1998 Public Art, Art International Exposition, Miami Beach Convention Center, Fl.
1998 Frederick Snitzer Gallery, Group Show, Miami, Fl.
1996 Miami Art Museum, Dreams and a Few Hidden Desires
1995 Museum of Contemporary Art, MOCA, North Miami, Fl. Art + Architecture =
1995 Museum of Contemporary Art, MOCA, North Miami, Fl. “Between Love and Riches”
1995 Snitzer Gallery, Coral Gables, Fl. Barbara Neijna-Installation
1995 Snitzer Gallery, Coral Gables, Fl. Gallery Artists
1993 Rubel Gallery, Miami Beach, Fl.
1991 Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Art, Thriving in Change, 1949-1990
1991 Florida International University, ArtPark
1990 Miami Dade Community College, South Campus, Twenty Five in Miami
1990 University Museum, University of Florida, Gainesville Fl. “Neijna”
1986 Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, Ft. Lauderdale Fl. “Site Walk” Installation
1985 Musee du Pantheon National, Hatien, Port au Prince, Haiti,  “Neijna et l’Environment”
1985 Gloria Luria Gallery, Bay Harbor Fl. “Neijna”
1982 Aaron Berman Gallery, New York, NY. “Women’s Art Miles Apart”
1982 Valencia Community College, East Campus, Orlando Fl.
1980 Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Fl. “Neijna”
1989 National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian “Across the Nation/ Fine Art in Public Buildings”
1979 Gran et Jeune d’ Augourd’hui, GranPalais, Paris, France
Selected Commissions
2008 Concourse ‘J’ Miami International Airport, Miami Fl.
2005 Bal Harbour Plaza, Bal Harbour, Fl.
2003 Ice Condominium, Miami, Fl.
1997 Department of Communications, Tallahassee, Fl.
1996 Tamiami Airport Artpark, Environmental Park, Miami, Fl.
1993 Broward Judicial Complex, Ft. Lauderdale, Fl.
1991 West Regional Courthouse, Pine Island Center, Plantation,Fl.
1990 Rhode Government Facility, Miami, Fl.
1989 General Development Corporation, Miami Fl.
1988 University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida Department of Nemotology-Etymology
1986 Department of Education, Tallahassee, Fl.
1985 Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Department, Garnet Station, Atlanta, GA
1984 Haskell Corporation, Jacksonville, Fl.
1982 Redevelopment Authority, Philadelphia, PA, Independence Place
1981 Central Business District Parking Facility Ft. Lauderdale, Fl.
1979 Heavy Equipment Authority, Miami, Fl.
1978 General Services Administration, Strom Thurmond Federal Building, Columbia SC.
1977 Jackie Gleason Theater of the Performing Arts, Miami Beach, Fl.
1977 Omni International Hotel, Miami, Fl.
1976 Palm Springs North Pool and Recreation Center, Palm Springs, Fl.
1976 City Hall of Miami Beach, Miami Beach, Fl.

Selected Collections
Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio
Brunnier Museum University of Iowa, Ames, Iowa
Smithsonian Institution, National Collection, Washington, DC
Boca Raton Museum and Art Center, Boca Raton, Fl.
Miami Art Museum of Dade County, Miami, Fl.
Fort Lauderdale Museum of the Arts, Ft. Lauderdale, Fl.
Musee du Pantheon National Hatien, Port au Prince, Haiti
Miami Dade Community College, Miami, Fl.
Southeast Collection, Miami, Fl.
Syracuse University, Lowe Art Museum, Syracuse, NY
Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, Fl.
Martin Z. Margulies, Miami, Fl.

Selected Bibliographies
Cultural Quarterly, Vol XIX Number : Broward County Board of Commissioners Publication
Sculpture Magazine, P. 51: Anne Barclay Morgan, Miami Supports Miami – 2001
Neijna Monograph “Site Walk” Ft. Lauderdale Museum of the Arts, George Bolge – 1986
Kalliope, Writers Collective Florida Community College, Jacksonville, Fl.
Art News, City Focus Miami-South Florida, Elisa Turner – 1996
Philadelphia Magazine, Getting Public Art off the Pedestal, Mary Kilroy – 1982
Florida Landscape Architecture, Vol.11/2: Artistic Collaborations, Julie Andeson -1990
“GSA Art and Architecture Selected Artworks” Eleanor Hartney, Susan Harrison – 1997- 2008
“Selections From the Collection” Miami Dade County Art in Public Places, Barbara Neijna
Home Miami, “Public by Definition, Personal by Nature” Heleln Kohen – 2007
Sculpture Magazine, Public Art of 2008 – November 2008
Nikki Style Magazine, November/December 2007
Florida Landscape Architecture, “Summer 1990 Artistic Collaboration” Anderson, Julie – 1990
Clearwater, Bonnie, “Reviews.” Art at Auction – January 1993
Sculpture Magazine “Commission, Barbara Neijna.” Oryx Press, March – April 1995
Art News, Contemporary American Women Sculptors, Phoenix, Arizona -1988
Edward, Ellen, “South Florida: “No Longer a Last Resort for Art.” – December 1979
Art in Public Places in the United States, Thomas Davenport
Bowling Green University Press, Bowling Green, Ohio -1975
“Art Looks for a Place in the Sun.” Kohen, Helen, Art News – February 1983
Kuspit, Donald B. “Barbara Neijna, Un Concept de l’ Environment”
Institut Haitian de La Culture et des Arts – November 1985
Art in America, ”Barbara Neijna at the Museum of Art” – March 1981
Florida November Catalogue, ”Neijna,” Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale -1980
”Barbara Neijna New Work: Interior Landscape “ Miami Art Museum – October 1995
Mecklenberg, Virginia, Across the Nation: Fine Art for Federal Building – 1972-1979
Art In America, “Report from Florida.” Plagens, Peter – November 1986
Exhibition Catalogue, Boca Museum of Art, “Art in the Environment.” Joyce Pomerantz
“The Place of Art in the World of Architecture.“ NY, Chelsea House, Thalaker, Donald W. -1980
Art Today, “Tracking Art in Atlanta: – 1990
“Year in Review: Public Art” Art in America -1989 – 1990

Video Production
“Foreverglades” 3’ Video Constantia Kontaxis/Ed Telavera – 2008
Documentary Film “Neijna 1998-2008” HD-55min, Constantia Kontaxis/Ed Telavera