While a student, she formed a friendship with the future mixed-media sculptor Elizabeth Murray. Bartlett received her BA in 1963. She then traveled to New Haven to study at Yale School of Art and Architecture[1] at a time when minimalism was the dominant style. Bartlett's instructors included the artists James Rosenquist, Jim Dine, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, Alex Katz, and Al Held. She received her BFA in 1964 and her MFA in 1965.