‘Two Truths and One Note’ Artwork by Alice Barreras

By Alice Barreras (@artbyalicebarreras)

Two Truths and One Note

(b. 2002, Chicago, IL) is an artist whose work reimagines Celtic myths and folktales through paintings that merge narrative clarity with the intimacy of domestic and found materials. Drawing from outsider and folk art lineages, she often depicts warriors, omens, animals, and mythic encounters in compositions that balance conflict with a quiet, contemplative stillness. Her recent, ongoing project explores storytelling on unconventional surfaces that echo historical practices like Swedish bonadmålning. Barreras earned her BA in Art from the University of California, Santa Cruz. In 2024, she received the Irwin Grant and the Dean’s Undergraduate Award for her painting series Always Offer a Gift of Silver to the First Magpie Seen in Spring. She has been featured in Sleaze Magazine and is currently a member of the Conviviality Cohort at Problem Library. Her work has been exhibited at Eduardo Carrillo Gallery, Problem Library, San Francisco City Hall, The Faight Collective, and through the AIASF Home Tours Program, among others. She has participated in Open Studios at UC Santa Cruz for four consecutive years and has been awarded the Eduardo Carrillo Scholarship during her time in Santa Cruz. Barreras’s practice continues to expand the narrative possibilities of everyday objects and inherited stories, exploring how myths persist—and adapt—within contemporary life and domestic space.