In Barbara Bullocks' paintings — as in nature — there are no straight lines. Serpentine paths of paint twist and turn and adhere their irregular forms to other irregular forms, layering themselves into a form of story telling. As in stories, there is a background against which action occurs. In Ms. Bullock's case, that back ground is an interest in the history and continuing experience of the African diaspora. The characters that participate in Ms. Bullock's stories are fabulous inventions of animals and figures, often richly patterned so that they slip in and out of relation to the background against which their lives are lived. Unfettered by the usual rectilinear format, Ms. Bullock's paintings assume the shapes of her figures and backgrounds — wildly eccentric silhouettes containing riots of color and pattern. Ms. Bullock has studied at the Hussian School of Art and the Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, both in Philadelphia. Included among her honors are a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship and a city of Philadelphia One Percent for Art commission at the Philadelphia International Airport. Howard University, Stockton College Art Gallery, and the African American Museum in Philadelphia have mounted solo exhibitions of her work. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at the Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Sande Webster Gallery, and Rutgers Center of Innovative Printmaking, among others. She currently teaches at Perkins Center for the Arts.