NWT Arts

My Name is Lumi Barbu and I am a northern artist from Yellowknife. I have always loved other people’s art and do try to incorporate art into my day-to-day life.

I live, work, create, and enjoy the long and cold winter and the brief and amazing summers in the North. Perhaps because my first name is “Lumi” meaning bright spark light. Perhaps because I’ve always felt the inclination to be an artist since I was in my teenage years.

I believe that being an artist is something that one is born to do and not learned at school, I went on to study through practical experience, learning through trial and error and self-learning studying the works of various artists as my teachers.

I am mainly known for my alcohol ink and mixed media paintings. My artwork is often serene abstracts with flowing, rich color palettes and ample use of gold. I see painting as a form of meditation it brings calm in a world of chaos.

I love working with a variety of media, exploring their possibilities, mixing them together, and experimenting. My favorites at the moment are alcohol inks. The inks are impossible to control completely, they have taught me the art of letting go. It is amazing to work with this medium, to see the inks flow, and at the end to see their magic.

My intent is to create artwork that makes people smile, reflect, and recall moments in their lives that bring them joy.