Modesto Junior College teacher’s new art exhibit takes ‘Filtered’ look at Gen Z’s obsession with perfection

Entering the Modesto Junior College Art Gallery, visitors may feel they’re being watched. Not by security, but by a number of women in various poses. Some are looking directly at you, while others look away from vibrant canvases that draw viewers in to take a closer look. The exhibition is called “Filtered” and features works by artist and professor Deborah Barr. A closer look reveals the layering of color and the multiple techniques applied, including textured palette work, dry brushing and glazing, all with oil paint.

These are the marks of a master of fine art, though Barr may not entirely agree. “I had a student ask me at the opening for this show, ‘At what point did you consider yourself to be a master?’ I said, ‘Well, I think the best place to be is as a student, always learning, and I haven’t reached that yet.’” “Filtered” will be on display at the Modesto Junior College Art Gallery until March 22. In December, the works will be exhibited at Artifact Gallery in New York City. This is Barr’s last exhibition as an MJC instructor, as she plans to retire in 2026 after nearly 30 years teaching art to Central Valley students. The exhibition “Filtered” features work by MJC professor Deborah Barr at the Modesto Junior College art gallery in Modesto, Thursday, March, 6, 2025.

What inspired her latest work displayed in her exhibition? Barr said she began to worry about how girls would see themselves and the confidence they would lose comparing themselves to other women and feeling as if they were not enough.

“I’m worried about their mental health and their security, and as they get older, in leaving themselves alone. They’re fine just the way they are,” she said. “They don’t have to be this personification of perfection that is put in their face all the time, either Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, or whatever, they seem to think they have to meet those standards.” Barr’s portraits reflect women through various filters, a comment on what she views as Generation Z’s obsession with perfection and social media, and the use of filters to obtain an ideal image. Using photo editing software, Barr would take a photo of her subject and layer the same image over itself, manipulating the image with filters and distortion with each new layer.

With this technique, Barr would have a final reference image to paint from and add her final filtering through several techniques to give the painting texture. In some paintings, the subjects have bluish hues on parts of their face and extremities that when photographed and inverted in photo software will appear normal to mirror the altering that a filter can do. “I’m distorting them in a way that makes them think a little harder about how others perceive them and how they perceive themselves, and saying it’s all in perspective, you know, flip it,” she said. The subjects are all different, but they are all former students, and many have interesting stories that can almost be felt as some look defiantly out of the painting while others turn away. Barr’s influences and inspirations Barr’s own story started with a love of art at an early age. Her great-great-grandfather was a billboard sign painter, and his passion for art carried down the line to his son and, eventually, Barr’s mother, who loved art and instilled that spirit into Barr.

Barr always found herself taking art classes but wasn’t serious about it as a profession until she pursued her bachelor’s degree. “I went on to Mills College, where I started focusing on art and studying under Hung Liu,” she said. Liu’s influence on Barr is evident in Barr’s paintings of women and children and her portraits, much like the work of her teacher. Barr paints primarily with oil but also sculpts and uses mixed media. She is also a muralist.

After graduating from Mills, she went on to earn a master’s degree in fine art from San Jose State University in 1998 and then studied mural painting at the National Academy of Design. Her work at that time was focused on issues affecting children, like war and gun violence. She showed her work around the world — in Africa, Russia, France, Spain, Germany and throughout the United States — and even partnered with some International aid organizations to bring awareness to children in need. During this time, Barr began to look for a teaching position and settled in Atwater, sometimes driving hundreds of miles to pursue teaching opportunities before being offered a job at Modesto Junior College in 2001. Barr has taught oil, acrylic, and mural painting and color and design classes. She also teaches art appreciation in person and online. It was in the classroom that her subjects shifted as she became inspired by the students around her. Barr said she is retiring to focus on her work. She said she has never taken more than a semester off to work on personal projects. In 2010 she decided to take a year off but was derailed when she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. While she has been managing it well, she said overheating has affected her ability to work on murals as she can no longer work long hours outside in the sun.

“Retiring will give me time to look at what I’m doing, why I’m doing it, and push myself harder as an artist, to not get stuck in that rut,” she said. I’m 66 but I am trying to see things through the students’ eyes, through the kids’ eyes. How must the kids today feel when everything is so fast and right there at their fingertips and they’re being compared to everything in the world? You know, it’s a scary place for them right now.” Filtered is on display until March 22. The Modesto Junior College Art Gallery is open Monday-Friday from 11 a.m.- 4 p.m. and is located at 435 College Ave. The gallery will also be open during the Third Thursday Art Walk on March 20 from 5-8 p.m. For more information call (209) 575-6819.