An exhibitor at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art in the 1930s, Thomas Barrett was a member of the American Art Congress and was a painter and printmaker. He settled in Poughkeepsie, New York.

He was the founder and first president of the Dutchess County Art Association. He organized the groups' local exhibitions in shops, hotels and the county fair and was convinced that local activities and interest in art warranted permanent galleries, a school of art and meeting place in Poughkeepsie.

He willed his 1830's Greek Revival home to the city and it was donated to the Dutchess County Art Association in 1974 by his sister. It is now The Barrett Art Center.