After graduating in Art History from Bristol University, Davina worked in London for both the Dickinson and Timothy Taylor Galleries…

she went on to set up her own business sourcing unusual furniture and fine art for clients. By then, with four small children in tow, she had moved back to her home county of Norfolk. Here she discovered a wealth of talented artists and artisans, and Norfolk by Design was born: a series of pop-up exhibitions championing local art and craft in rustic, rural spaces, with an annual show in the Palladian stables of Houghton Hall.

In 2019 Davina went solo as Davina Barber, exhibiting artists beyond Norfolk, launching herself into the London art scene at Fair For Saatchi in 2019 and, more recently, the British Art Fairs in 2022 & 2023, with four Works on Paper shows at London’s Frestonian Gallery in  2020, Iris Studios in 2021, 340 Kings Rd in 2023 and Cromwell Place in 2024. When not exhibiting in London, she works on projects between artists and clients and exhibits artwork at home in Norfolk.

During the second lockdown in early 2021, Davina helped EACH (East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices) raise over £80,000 for their Art Therapy Programme. She acquired over 30 works of art from established East Anglian-based artists, for an exclusive online auction with Cheffins. Works donated included those from Antony Gormley, John Virtue, Anne Marie James, Colin Self and Nigel Hall.

Davina is a proud Ambassador to the Sainsbury Centre www.sainsburycentre.ac.uk which houses the collection of the late Robert and Lisa Sainsbury, an extraordinary collection of artwork majoring in Modern British art, and artefacts from ancient civilisations, as well as housing other numerous world-class collections and a growing sculpture park.

Davina is passionate about art, visiting exhibitions whenever time allows.  She favours the abstract or semi-abstract, and anything where composition and colours fuse aesthetically. The Modern British era is her inspiration, siting Scott, Hitchens, Auerbach, Vaughan, Freud, Nicholson and Hepworth, to name a few. If money grew on trees, she’d also like to have Milton Avery, Cy Twombly, Lee Krasner, Willem de Kooning, Clyfford Still and Helen Frankenthaler in her collection. Contemporary artists she loves include Hurvin Anderson, Lynette Yiadom-Boake, Tim Braden and Cecily Brown.  Preparatory sketches of any era are always a favourite.. a Constable or a Crome from the Norwich school would be a nice addition to the fantasy collection!