Barbara Porwit has both a Bachelors of Fine Art and a Masters from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. She has studied art in England, and at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. She traveled throughout Europe with art history professors from the University of Essex as a student abroad. Her work has been featured at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan, the Saint Paul Art Crawl and Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

She credits her high school art teacher for awakening her drawing abilities by using Betty Edward's "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain," her college color professor for forever changing the way she sees, and her college drawing professor, Tom Cowette, for fostering and honing her skills.

Her influences range from Van Gogh to Modigliani to Giacometti. Her favorite artistic memories include touring the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam with her art history professors from the University of Essex, and taking orders for special commissions from her painted t-shirt booth on the beach in Pelekas, Corfu, Greece.