Barbara Swarbrick (1945-) was born in Manchester, England. She trained in fine art and design in England and worked as an art and craft teacher before coming to Australia in 1974. She first began working with clay in 1977, giving up teaching in 1985 to make this a full-time career. Based in Thornbury, Victoria, she makes pinched, slab-built or coiled pieces in porcelain, stoneware, white earthenware and terracotta, decorated with coloured clay and oxide inlay, painted slips and underglaze colours. She has designed ceramics for Australian Fine China in Perth and Johson tiles in Melbourne, and has also taken on a number of commissioned projects to make large-scale works. She has entries in the 1986, 1990 and 1996 directories. Work may be marked 'Barbara Swarbrick' (incised) or 'BS' (impressed or incised).