Betsy Packard
Manifesting Transformation
My artmaking process can be either meditative or one of fast-paced immediacy. Painting in melted wax, hand sewing, mosaic surface– these are some of the meditative processes. Newspaper, cement, and plaster, used additively or cast— are the structural or “binder” materials I employ when I begin a piece with a concept and set a few specific parameters. Then, creation of the work is quick and intuitive; chance and the subconscious play a role.
BETSY PACKARD
SOLO AND TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2015
Outliers: Kurt Godwin and Betsy Packard, American University Museum at
the Katzen Arts Center, Washington, DC; curated by J.W. Mahoney.
2011
Hillyer Gallery, Washington, DC.
2000-1984
Anton Gallery, Washington, DC.
1984
Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, DC.
Gallery 10, Washington, DC.
1982
St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, IN.
1981
Gallery 10, Washington, DC.
1980
Frostburg State College, MD.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021
Collector’s Night 2020, WPA Benefit Auction, Washington, DC.
High Frequency, WPA Benefit Auction, Washington, DC.
Party for Democracy, Green Chalk Contemporary, 701 Hawthorne, Monterey, CA.
2018
Kindled by Things, Mclean Project for the Arts, McLean, VA; curated by Nancy Sausser.
Off the Grid: Contemporary Fiber and Textile Art, Betty Mae Kramer Gallery, Silver Spring, MD.
2017
Strictly Painting 11, Juror Prize, McLean Project for the Arts; Juror: Anne Reeve (Glenstone).
2016
GEOMETRIX: Line, Form, Subversion, Curator’s Office, Washington, DC; curated by Andrea Pollan.
2014
Readymade@100, American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, Washington, DC; curated by Mark Cameron Boyd,
Transformations, juried by Jack Rassmussen, McLean Project for the Arts, McLean, VA.
Washington Art Matters 1940’s-1980’s II, American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, Washington, DC.
Recontextualizing the Found, Shiva Gallery, John Jay College, CUNY, New York, NY; curated by Bill Pangburn and Thalia Vrachopoulos,
2013
Hair Apparent, The Athenaeum, Alexandria, VA; curated by Twig Murray.
2012
Signals, DCAC, Washington, DC; curated by J.W. Mahoney,.
Four Perspectives: Becoming MPA, curated by Deborah MacLeod, McLean Project for the Arts, McLean, VA.
2011
Catalyst: 35 Years of Washington Project for the Arts 1975-2010, American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center,
Washington, DC; curated by J.W. Mahoney,
2010
Mundanity, Catholic University, Washington, DC; curated by Beverly Ress.
Disclosed, Chroma Projects Art Laboratory, Charlottesville, VA; curated by Deborah McLeod.
2009
Alternative Objects, James Backas Gallery, MSAC, Baltimore, MD; curated by Beverly Ress.
2008 2008
Media Mix: 21st Century Collage, curated by Iciar Sagarminaga, Civilian Art Projects, Washington, DC.
Transmodern Ocean, Mayer Fine Art, Norfolk, VA; curated by J.W. Mahoney.
2007
Pass/Sculpture, Pass Gallery, Washington, DC.
2006
Sculpture Unbound, Edison Place Gallery, Washington, DC; juried by: Glenn Harper.
Hystoria, DCAC, Washington, DC; curated by J.W. Mahoney,
2005
Cartography 101, Johnsonese Gallery, Chicago, IL.
Sculpture Now, Washington Square, Washington DC; juried by Rex Weil.
2004
Anonymous Returns, Washington, DC.
Summer Show, Signal 66, Washington, DC.
Flora: Sculptures of the Natural World, U.S. Botanic Gardens, Washington, DC.
2003
Plastic Memory, McLean Project for the Arts, McLean, VA; curated by Deborah McLeod.
1991
Spirit Materials, McLean Project for the Arts, McLean, VA; curated by Alice Thorsen,
Enclosure, The Annex, Washington, DC; curated by Sharon Fishel,.
Crossfire, The Annex, Washington, DC; curated by David Carlson.
Collecting, Organizing, Transposing, curated by Olivia Georgia, MAP, Baltimore andcSnug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, NY.
1989
Artery ’89, Second Prize; Washington, DC; curated by Julia Boyd.
Arnold and Porter Gallery, Washington, DC; curated by Sarah Tanguy.
1988
Recollections: Washington Artists at WPA 1975-1988, WPA, Washington, DC; Curated by Jock Reynolds.
Spare Parts: Realignments in Abstraction, Tuttle Gallery, McDonough, MD; Curated by Carol Wood.
1987
Selected Sculpture, Anton Gallery, Washington, DC.
1986
Ten Artists Working in New York City and Washington, DC, Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA; curated by Jock Reynolds and Robert Feldman,
1986
Objects and Installations: Selected Sculpture from Maryland, Curated by Phyllis Rosenzweig, MAP, Baltimore, MD.
Painterly Sculpture, Gallery 10, Washington, DC.
In Memory of Cynthia, Old Dominion College, Norfolk, VA.
1985
Ten Washington Artists at Gallery 10, Washington, DC.
Faculty Show, Montgomery College, Takoma Park, MD.
Washington Sculpture: Prospects and Perspectives, Georgetown Court Artist’s Space,
Washington, DC; curated by Michael Walls.
O Street Artists, Marlboro Gallery, Prince George’s Community College, Largo, MD.
1982
The Art Barn Presents, The Art Barn, DC; curated by David Tannous and Caroline Huber.
O Street Artists at the Art Barn, Washington, DC.Group Show,” Jack Rassmussen Gallery, Washington, DC.
1980
Bookworks: DC, Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, DC.
Paper: Changing Uses and Concepts, Gallery 10, Washington, DC.
1979
Six California Artists, West Hubbard Gallery, Chicago, IL
1978
New Talent, Galerie Simonne Stern, New Orleans, LA
1977
Louisiana Environments, Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA.
1975
Fujistudio Group, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy.
HONORS, AWARDS1985-1987
Board of Directors, Washington Project for the Arts.
1988
Visual Artists’ Grant, Maryland State Arts Council.
1991
Visual Artists’ Grant, Maryland State Arts Council.
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center.
The Washington Post
Past Brewing Company
Klein Hornig LLP.
DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative.
Kramerbooks.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2014
Jenkins, Mark, THE WASHINGTON POST, 7/18.
2010
O’Sullivan, Michael, Catalyst, THE WASHINGTON POSTt, 11/19.
2004
O’Sullivan, Michael, Plastic Memory, THE WASHINGTON POST, 1/2/04.
1992
Zinnia, Spirit Materials, THE NEW ART EXAMINER, 2-3/92.
1991
McCoy, Mary, Spirit Materials at Emerson, THE WASHINGTON POST, 10/26/91.
1988
Alice Thorsen, Galleries, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 1/18
1988
Forgey, Benjamin, Betsy Packard at Anton, THE WASHINGTON POST, 2/27/88.
Thorsen, Alice, Recollections: WPA 1975-1988, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 12/22/88.
1987
Frank, Patrick, Betsy Packard, NEW ART EXAMINER, 7/87.
McCoy, Mary, Betsy Packard, WASHINGTON REVIEW, 2-3/87.
1984
Fleming, Lee, Visual Arts: Young and on the Way Up, WASHINGTONIAN MAGAZINE, November.
Rubenfeld, Richard, Betsy Packard, Jeff Spaulding, Yuriko Yamaguchi, NEW ART EXAMINER, June
Forgey, Benjamin, Strong Showing, THE WASHINGTON POST, April 14
Allen, Jane Addams, Three Young Sculptors, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, March 22
Fleming, Lee, Betsy Packard at Gallery 10, WASHINGTON REVIEW, April/May
Lewis, JoAnn, Flowery Objects, THE WASHINGTON POST, 2/23.
1981
Fleming, Lee, Open Studio’81, IMAGES AND ISSUES, Fall
1980
Lewis, JoAnn, Sculpted Books, THE WASHINGTON POST, 3/15/80.
Forgey, Benjamin, The Book as Art, THE WASHINGTON STAR, 3/13
1979
Krainik, Paul, Six California Artists, NEW ART EXAMINER, Summer.
1978
Fosberg, Joselyn, New Artists at the Stern, THE COURIER, (New Orleans), 2/23/78.
Marshall, Keith, A Fresh Look at Art, ART VOICES/SOUTH, 3-4/78.
1977
Glade, Luba, Louisiana Environments: A Major Triumph, NEW ORLEANS TIMES-PICAYUNE, 11/29/77.
EDUCATION
1978
MFA, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA.
1976
BFA, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, Il.
ABOUT BETSY PACKARD
Betsy Packard is a conceptual artist whose work has continually revisited themes of journaling, reuse, autobiography, manifestation, and record keeping—employing a variety of media and drawing from a vast array of found and saved materials.
These preoccupations stem from experiences in Italy,1974-75, where stores that sold rags existed side by side with the masterpieces of Early Renaissance art. This left an indelible impression of reverence for the value and persistence of all physical materials and objects and their ability to mark events and periods in our lives and evoke powerful associations.
She began as a painter, but was drawn to collage, assemblage, metalwork, printmaking, and the handmade. Saved mementos and letters became a handful of pulp, resulting in a “thing” rather than an image. Deconstruction and compression as processes were a way to keep the physical journal in her sphere, easy to store and transport. At times, she was ready to let a particular chapter go; i.e., in 1977, she plastered written material and objects in the walls of the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans, in the exhibition, “Louisiana Environments”.
Soon, common everyday items—egg cartons, packing materials, styrofoam and plastic containers became molds for sculpture. The excitement of 3 dimensionality and the discovery of the versatility of plaster led to a more traditional series of sculptures. The found forms suggested botanical and figurative subject matter.
Her artmaking process can be either meditative or one of fast-paced immediacy. Painting in melted wax, hand sewing, mosaic surface– these are some of the meditative processes. Newspaper, cement, and plaster, used additively or cast— are the structural or “binder” materials, when she begins a piece with a concept and sets a few specific parameters. Then, creation of the work is quick and intuitive; chance and the subconscious play a role.
Her work can be autobiographical- sometimes with the goal of personal transformation. Though our stories are unique and precious, there is a universality to some human experience, and it is her hope that the viewer will relate visually or viscerally to some memory, humor, or mystery they feel here.
There is a naturally “green” aspect to her work.
She uses both mundane and special saved objects as molds and as material for her work, drawing from what is abundant in her environment. The objects and molds are often recognizable; the saved materials have a history and a meaning for her. She alters these items yet they retain a vestige of a previous life and function.
Currently, used fabric is her medium of choice. Saved clothing embodies some essence of its owner—an aura that can emanate from the new form. Garment pattern pieces have the ability to conjure the figure—a recurring theme. Contemplative, slow, repetitive processes in the construction of this fabric work have been essential in earlier works as well: painting with melted wax- one brushstroke at a time, or the painstaking application of broken glass to sculptural surfaces. Embroidery, weaving, and hand sewing can produce this meditative state, and imbue the finished piece with mindfulness and weight.
Betsy Packard’s work has been shown at the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans; The Shiva Gallery, John Jay College, CUNY, New York; the West Hubbard Gallery in Chicago, The Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, Massachusetts, and in the D.C. metro area at The American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, the Washington Project for the Arts, McLean Project for the Arts, the District of Columbia Arts Center, Maryland Art Place, Anton Gallery, Gallery 10, and Curator’s Office. Packard received Visual Artist’s Grants from the Maryland State Arts Council in 1988 and 1991. Her work is included in the collections of the Krannert Art Museum, the Newcomb Art Museum, and the American University Museum.
Reviews of her work have appeared in The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Washington Review, The New Art Examiner, Art Voices/South and the New Orleans Times-Picayune, and she served on the WPA Board of Directors from 1985-1987.
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