After completion of a
Diploma in Graphic Design at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
(Australia), Anita Barley worked as a professional botanical illustrator with
the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne from 1977.
She performed this role for sixteen years, working mainly on the
illustrated Flora of Victoria project, completing hundreds of coloured and
black-and-white plates for this major scientific reference work. She also
provided illustrations for scientific papers, the Flora of Australia, and other
projects.
Since departing from the botanic gardens in 1992, Anita has continued to work
freelance, providing further illustrations for scientific publications,
together with other botanical paintings and commissions. She has twice been awarded the Celia Rosser
Medal (2002, 2006).
In 2013 Anita relocated with her family to live in the Royal Botanic Gardens
Kew, where she continues to produce extraordinarily detailed botanical and
other nature-themed artwork. She has
contributed plates to Curtis’ Botanical Magazine and also for the Kew Bulletin,
and has also undertaken commissions. In 2016, Anita was chosen for the Jill
Smythies Award for Botanical Illustration by the Linnaean Society, London.