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)