Kenneth R. Barrick, age 94, passed away peacefully at home on Tuesday, December 18, 2007. He was born in Hudson, South Dakota on July 15, 1913 to Roy Gilmore Barrick, M.D. and Donna Roberts Barrick. He graduated from the University of Illinois with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1937, and earned his Masters of Fine Arts degree from the University of Iowa in 1940. There he studied under famed American artist, Grant Wood. In 1949, he was hired by Dean Alvin Boston and he moved his young family to Las Cruces, New Mexico to take a teaching position in the Art Department at New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts (now NMSU). There he earned his professorship. Professor Barrick was instrumental in bringing art to the then small community of Las Cruces. He taught amateur artists from all walks of life in night and weekend classes over many years. In his gentle way, he nurtured, encouraged and challenged thousands of University art students to achieve their greatest potential. He was also an accomplished mural painter, and his works adorn the NMSU campus in the inside foyer of Hadley Hall (1958), the Chemistry Building (1962), Jacobs Hall (1968), Corbett Center (1973), and Guthrie Hall (1978). As he began research for the outdoor murals, he worked out a formula for potassium silicate paint which would withstand the harsh Southwestern elements. He was commissioned in 1982 to create a 2,800 square foot mural atop the Prepared Foods, Inc. building in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. In 1984 he completed an outdoor mural at Dona Ana Community College. He was a featured artist with a show at the Governor's Gallery in the Santa Fe Roundhouse under the governorship of Garrey Carruthers. In later years, his love of horses was evidenced in his spectacular paintings, now hanging in 22 states and Canada. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, the latest of which was the "Art in Public Places Award" bestowed by the Dona Ana Arts Council in 2006. Professor Barrick touched the lives so positively of all who knew him. He never said a negative word. As one of his former students George Gray said, "He never criticized our work negatively but rather would guide the student by saying,
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