BETSY PACKARD
“My work continues the long tradition of re-creating with the everyday and near at hand. The materials I use have had a life of their own that both enriches and is enriched in the meditative state incurred during the transformation process.” – Betsy Packard, 2021
Betsy Packard is a conceptual artist whose work transforms ordinary objects, found images, and simple matter into fundamentally new concepts of meaning. At times, her autobiographical work is punctuated with a great deal of humor evidenced by her choice of medium and materials.
ABOUT BETSY PACKARD
Betsy Packard was drawn to collage, assemblage, metalwork, printmaking and the handmade while studying painting at the University of Illinois. 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”.
Betsy Packard has been exhibiting her work since the late 1980’s. Her 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 Washington, DC metro area at the Katzen Arts Center, American University Museum, 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 has 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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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
2023 Pattern and Process: Selections from the Permanent Collection, curated by Kathryn Koca Polite. The Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
2022 METAMORPHOSES: Highlights from the Permanent Collection,” Newcomb Art Museum, curated by Maurita Poole and Laura Blereau,Tulane University, New Orleans LA.
2022 Collector’s Night 2022, Washington Project for the Arts Benefit Auction, Washington, D.C.
2021 Collector’s Night 2020, WPA Benefit Auction, Washington, DC.
2020 High Frequency, WPA Benefit Auction, Washington, DC.
2019 The Art Party, Green Chalk Contemporary, 701 Hawthorne, Monterey. CA.
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 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
2018 Jenkins, Mark, “Kindled by Things, THE WASHINGTON POST, 12/16/18.
2015 Jenkins, Mark, “Outliers: Kurt Godwin and Betsy Packard”, American, University at the Katzen Arts Center, The Washington Post, July 2015
2014 Jenkins, Mark, THE WASHINGTON POST, 7/18.
2010 O’Sullivan, Michael, Catalyst, THE WASHINGTON POST, 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.
