Barbara Rae studied at Edinburgh College of Art from 1961-1965 where she was awarded a travel scholarship. She travelled to France and Spain in 1966. On her return, she attended Moray House College of Education and taught in Edinburgh until 1972. She went on to Lecture in Drawing, Painting and Printmaking at Aberdeen College of Education from 1972-1974 and Lectured in Drawing and Painting at Glasgow School of Art from 1975-1996.
Her work has been included in many solo and group exhibitions both nationally and internationally, and she has work included in many private collections in Britain, Europe and the USA, as well as in many public and corporate collections.
Barbara's many awards include Major Scottish Arts Council Awards (1975, 1981), Guthrie Medal, Royal Scottish Academy (1977), Royal Scottish Academy Sir William Gillies Travel Award (1983) Calouste Gulbenkian Printmaking Award (1983) and Hunting Group Prizewinner (1990).
Rae was elected President of the Society of Scottish Artists in 1983, and a Royal Scottish Academician in 1992 (ARSA 1980) and a Royal Academician in 1996. She has been a Member of the Royal Fine Art Commission for Scotland since 1995 and was a Member of the Board of the British School at Rome in 1998. In 1999 she was awarded a CBE and received an Honorary Doctorate from Napier University, Edinburgh.
