Talented Artist Completes UA Little Rock Degree Started More Than 40 Years Ago
More than four decades after he first stepped foot on the campus of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, artist and framemaker Barrie Bryant is completing a journey he began in the 1980s.
On May 17, Bryant will graduate from UA Little Rock with a Bachelor of Arts in interdisciplinary studies, a milestone that is both deeply personal and richly symbolic.
Now living in the Owl Creek Valley near Thermopolis, Wyoming, Bryant has built a thriving career as a renaissance artist. He works as a photographer, framemaker, gilder, and writer. His work has been exhibited throughout the country in 37 states, in the Wyoming State Capitol, and he recently authored a feature for Picture Framing Magazine about diploma framing that will be published in July. Despite his professional success, one box on his resume remained unchecked: a college degree.
“I was supposed to graduate from Central High in 1983,” Bryant said. “I started at UA Little Rock when I was still in high school after my stepfather died in 1981. Life took me in a different direction, but this always felt like unfinished business.”
Over the years, Bryant’s life unfolded in unexpected ways. After enlisting in the Marine Corps and earning an honorable discharge in 1988, he returned to UA Little Rock as a full-time student. But his education was again interrupted by military service during Desert Storm.
He transitioned into a professional art career, becoming known for his photography and hand-crafted frames. In 1992, UA Little Rock hosted a solo exhibition of his Delta photography titled “The Arkansas Diaries,” a defining moment in his creative life. After this, he and his first wife, who married in 1994, moved out West. The couple had a great life together and traveled the country working as professional artists until she sadly passed away in 2022.
Fast-forward 30 years to 2022, and Bryant re-enrolled at UA Little Rock. He’s been completing his degree entirely online while teaching art courses through Wyoming’s Creative Aging Initiative and writing for publications.
“It seemed like a smart thing to do,” he said. “During COVID, I realized I couldn’t even apply for some jobs without a degree. My wife Jeannie said, ‘Why don’t you go back and finish over the next two semesters?’ So, I did.”
Returning to school at age 59 hasn’t been easy. Bryant currently teaches gilding and photography courses to seniors through a program funded by the Wyoming Arts Council while juggling coursework and writing commitments.
“I think this is the most nervous I’ve ever been in my life,” he said. “I’m enrolled in 12 hours and doing a lot of writing. I’m a bit of an overachiever these days. But it’s great to know I’ve accomplished this.”
Bryant’s interdisciplinary degree blends studio art, English, and rhetoric and writing. He received his associate degree in December and will now graduate with honors, having earned perfect scores in his classes. He was also named the 2024–25 Outstanding Interdisciplinary Studies Student, an award recognizing excellence in the field.
“UA Little Rock has changed a lot since the ’80s, and I’ve changed too,” he said. “Life is more beautiful now than ever. I have a very beautiful life.”
Bryant credits his Academic Advisor Yvette Palmer for helping him navigate the finish line. “She is a super asset to UA Little Rock,” he said.
He also expressed appreciation for faculty who made a lasting impact, including J. Bradley Minnick, whose podcasting course inspired Bryant to incorporate audio storytelling into his latest article, and math instructor Becki Streett. “I’d never aced a math course before hers,” he said. “She helped me believe I could.”
Bryant’s creative journey has always been deeply tied to Arkansas. In October 1992, former Chancellor James H. Young purchased one of his photographs for UA Little Rock’s Permanent Collection. Just last year, a woman inquired about a portrait Bryant had taken of her father working in Coy, Arkansas, that he had taken 30 years earlier.
“I sent her a large print,” Bryant said. “That connection meant a lot.”
Though he now resides in the West, Bryant maintains close ties to Arkansas. He’ll drive more than 1,200 miles from Harvey, North Dakota, (where he and his wife currently live part time for her travel nurse assignment) to attend commencement, where he’ll walk across the stage in honor of a journey decades in the making.
And even after graduation, he isn’t slowing down. Along with preparing frames for a limited-edition photography series, Bryant is working on new exhibitions and continuing to teach.
“I still have lots of projects ahead,” he said. “There’s always more to create.”
As he reflects on the long, winding path that led him back to UA Little Rock to complete his educational journey, Bryant remains characteristically humble.
“I’m a lucky skunk. That’s from the Spaghetti Western, ‘My Name is Nobody,’” he said. “But really, I just feel grateful. I have a very beautiful life. Life is more beautiful now than ever.”