Barbara Sesta is a Contemporary Realist with a lean toward Impressionism. Inspiration comes from "the ever changing way light and the atmosphere affect things." She received a classical education which was a great beginning for continuing life as a painter. She is a graduate of the Newark School of Fine & Industrial Arts and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute of Art. Ms. Sesta was a student of Samuel Breacher who was taught by Charles Hawthorne, founder of the Cape Cod School of Art and a student of William Merritt Chase. Influences include John Singer Sargent and Winslow Homer. Ms. Sesta has participated in many juried exhibitions including The Phillips Mill Art Exhibition, The Allied Artists of America in New York, the Artsbridge Members Show, and was chosen "Artist in Residence" Kill Railaig Project in Ireland. She was elected a member of the Allied Artists of America in September 2015. In 2016 she was awarded the Giovanni Martino Award for Realist Landscape from the Allied Artists of America at their National Juried Exhibition at the Salmagundi Club in New York City. Her work is in private and corporate collections in the US and in Europe.