Education

BFA, Printmaking, University of New Hampshire (1981)

MFA, Printmaking, Tyler School of Art of Temple University (1983)

Art

My work centers around ideas of resonance, balance and continuum; aspects existent in physical and psychological life. Biomorphic shapes intertwine with calligraphic linear elements; some seem animal-like while other shapes reference utilitarian tools or invented natural forms. There is an entwined component of flat and dimensional space, imagined and seen, with quips of comedic interactions. A source of inspiration is evident in the symbology of shapes utilized in pictographs and petroglyphs by indigenous peoples from the Anza-Borrego Desert to the Chauvet Cave. Pictographs are images drawn on stone with natural pigments and petroglyphs are engraved images in stone. The combination of observed and invented shapes to create imagery and a form of written, visual language is paradoxically narrative and symbolic as well as representational and abstract. It interests me that two horned goats are adjacent to a quadranted circle or the head of a feline is next to a dot pattern. In North America, petroglyphs were used as a form of communication directly influenced by the unifying sign language used by the 500 native nations. I have travelled to numerous sites in the United States to do visual research and view pictographs and petroglyphs in their specific geographic locations. I am presently working on multiple series including hand pulled prints, drawings and watercolors. The prints are a combination of various techniques including woodcut, spit-bite and lift-ground aquatint, drypoint, etching and pochôir. The colors are layered and often transparent, muted with accents of vibrancy. For example, the Notation series references visual research and investigations kept in my spiral notebooks and journals.

Teaching Interests

I teach courses in printmaking, drawing and combined studio practices. It is my goal, with each student, to foster a level of conceptual rigor and independent thinking while simultaneously instilling knowledge of the technical skills needed to achieve the power of visual language. The building of an individual’s self-confidence and the fearless investigation necessary in becoming an articulate and meaningful visualist, is achieved through a combination of traditional and inventive methods. Artists’ work from historical to contemporary is incorporated and meshed into the learning experience. In Printmaking I, The Handprinted Image, students are introduced to a variety of intaglio and relief processes including drypoint, etching, aquatint, woodcut and linocut. Printmaking assignments never dictate subject matter, so the students’ ideas are their own, to be explored and developed fully as auteur. Printmaking II, Further Investigations of the Hand Pulled Print is an advanced application of printmaking media and the of the hand printed image.  Stone lithography is added as well as combination techniques and more advanced application of conceptual concerns. I have taught a number of Special Topics, which the student designs with my guidance, to investigate a unique area of interest. These courses have included a broad range of subject matter from performance, painting, watercolor, bookmaking and spinning wool. The course: Working in Series: The Interdisciplinary Connection Between Drawing and the Hand Printed Image allows students the freedom and forum to merge two related disciplines and recombine them into work that respects the past and connects the future.

Other Teaching

Chautauqua School of Art, Chautauqua NY, 2001–2005:  Visiting Assistant Professor of Studio Art

Princeton University, Princeton NJ, 1998-2002:  Lecturer of Printmaking and Drawing, Visual Arts Program

Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown MA, 2007-2011

Two Rivers Printmaking Studio, White River Junction VT, 2006-Present

Queens College City University of New York, Flushing NY, 1995-2001:  Adjunct Lecturer of Studio Art

 

Visiting Artist

Art Institute of Boston, Lesley University, Boston MA

American University, Corciano Italy

Colby College,  Waterville Maine                                

Colby Sawyer College,  New London NH                                               

Dartmouth College, Guest Critic, Hanover NH                   

Essex Community College, Caldwell NJ                               

Hampshire College, Amherst MA                                           

Laramie County Community College, Cheyenne WY     

Maryville University, St. Louis and Potosi, MO

New York Technical School, New York City

Parsons School of Design, New York City

Trinity College, Hartford CT

Two Rivers Printmaking Studio, White River Junction VT

University of New Hampshire, Durham NH

University of Vermont, Burlington  VT

 

Grants and Fellowships

 MacDowell Colony, Peterborough NH

Dorland Mountain Arts Colony, Temecula CA 

Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant

University of Massachusetts Printmaking Workshop, Amherst MA

 

Public Collections

Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock AK

Art Museum of Estonia Special Collections, Tallinn Estonia

Boston Public Library, Boston MA

California State University at Long Beach Museum of Art

Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology Special Collections, New Zealand

Cork Printmakers,Cork Ireland

Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, New Hampshire

Franklin Pierce College, New Hampshire

Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts Hammer Museum, California

Plymouth State College, New Hampshire

Proyecto ‘ace Print Collection, Buenos Aires Argentina

Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California

Southern Graphic Council Archives at the University of Mississippi

The Hood Museum, New Hampshire

Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California

Sado Woodcut Print Village Museum, Sado Island Japan

Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas

Tokyo Geijutsu, Daigaku Japan

Tyler School of Art of Temple University, Pennsylvania

University of Colorado Special Collections

University of Colorado Boulder Special Collections

University of Massachusetts Amherst

University of New Hampshire

University of Vermont Special Collections

Virginia Commonwealth’s Print Archive

Zayed University, Dubai The United Arab Emirates 

 

Print Portfolio Projects:  Handpulled Prints

2014     

Map Making and Path Finding Print: Tethered, edition 30, University of Colorado Boulder

 

2011    

50 Places Print: New Hampshire Notation,edition 55, University of Colorado Boulder

Equilibrium Print: Winter’s Edge, edition 12, SGC International /Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Art, Washington University St. Louis

 

2010     

From All Directions Print: Collected, edition 15, University of Colorado Boulder

Awesome Printmakers United Print:Reverie I, edition 20, University of Colorado Boulder

Little Big Monsters Sharing Our World View Vol. I Print: Inside Out, edition 10, University of Colorado Boulder

Mark/Remarque Print: Resonate, edition 12, SGC International, Tyler School of Art of Temple University, Moore College of Art, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art

 

2009    

Sweet Printmakers Print: Join, edition 25,University of Colorado Boulder

Do you know Bolivia/Conces Bolivia? Print: 1545,edition 20, University of Colorado Boulder                

Places of Origin Print:Ripple, edition 16, Madison, Wisconsin

Global Implications SGC International, Columbia College, Chicago IL

 

2008    

Another New Zealand, Another United States Print: Connection,edition: 25, University of Colorado Boulder

The 1960’s Print: Peace, edition 16, University of Colorado Boulder

Command P SGC InternationalVirginia Commonwealth University Richmond VA

 

2007     

Women Weaving Transparent Thought Print: Source, edition 20, University of Colorado Boulder

Mockery Print: We’re Melting, edition 30, Cannonball Press New York City

Exotic Plants, Animals and People Print: Whorl,edition 25, University of Colorado Boulder

Points, Plots & PloysSGC International Kansas City Art Institute Kansas City MO

 

2006    

Two Rivers Printmaking Studio Print:Pact,edition 35,White River Junction Vermont

Clones Print: Echo, edition 25,Colby Sawyer College New Hampshire

 

1997     

Across the Grain: An American Woodcut Portfolio Print: Bared, edition 33, California State University Long Beach

 

Book Projects

Monumental Ideas in Miniature Books II Book: The Past is Present, edition 6, The University of Akron, Myers School of Art Ohio

Monumental Ideas in Miniature Books Book: Linked,edition 8, The University of Akron, Myers School of Art Ohio

CEREMONIAL DE VIENTO Ceremonial of Wind Juan Armando Rojas Joo Ediciones La Cuadrilla De La Langosta, 2006, Series of Monotype prints

Solo Exhibitions

Dadapost Gallery Betsey Garand: Findings Berlin Germany (2012)

University of Vermont Proof of Existence Francis Colburn Gallery Burlington VT (2011)

Amherst College Beneath The SurfaceThe Eli Marsh Gallery, Amherst MA (2007)   

LaGuardia College Works on PaperLong Island City NYC (2002)   

A.I.R. Gallery Black and White and Color, NYC (1999)   

Dartmouth College Prints Drawings PaintingsLower Jewitt Gallery, Hanover NH (1999)

Queens College CUNY Prints: Betsey Garand NYC (1984)