Artist Statement
At Gallery Seven “Pattern and Form” opening, Sept, 2019
I began my artistic explorations late in life after a career in science and high technology. I have spent much of my life analyzing masses of data to discover patterns and implications. Now, after all that analysis, I feel compelled to synthesize rather than analyze. Having spent much of my life finding patterns in data, I am now creating patterns in sculpture, photography and painting. I have found that my ability to visualize multidimensional relationships seems to serve me well as I strive to create new and interesting patterns and forms in two or three dimensions.
My first artistic endeavor was stone sculpture, where I found great satisfaction in extracting a pleasing and complex form from a raw natural stone. But when I injured my wrist and could no longer carve stone, I turned to softer, lighter materials. Now I create canvas wall sculptures which have a complex interaction with incident light. I love the way the effect of the sculpture is altered by the play of light and shadow across its folds and sinuous forms.
I also love to explore patterns in the natural world through a camera lens. Most of my photographic images document my close observation of ordinary, even mundane, things; they emphasize form and line and tend toward the abstract.
In my acrylic paintings I play across the liminal space between landscape and pure abstraction. Recently, I’ve been investigating the existential thought: “Where are we going?” Surely, these paintings are expressing the nighttime thoughts of a no-longer-young mind.
It gives me great pleasure to be able to create these concrete expressions of a probing, abstracting, pattern-finding mind. I have done many interesting things in my life, but making art makes me happier than anything I have done before.
Exhibitions
2019 – Gallery Seven, Maynard, MA. “Pattern and Form” Works by Betsy J. Constantine & Carol Rissman. Sept-Oct, 2019.
2019 – Newton Art Association, Annual Awards Exhibit 2019, Newton, MA.
2019 – Newton Art Association, Transitions, Mother Brook Juried Show, Mother Brook Arts and Community Center, Dedham, MA
Juror: David Lloyd Brown, former Associate Dean of Graduate Programs, Museum of Fine Arts.
2018 – Newton Art Association, James King Bonnar Show, Wedeman Gallery, Newton, MA.
2018 – Newton Art Association, Mosesian Center for the Arts, Watertown, MA.
2017 – Newton Art Association New Member Show, Scandinavian Cultural Center, Newton. Second Prize.
2017 – Newton Art Association, Mother Brook Juried Show, Mother Brook Arts and Community Center, Dedham, MA.
2016 – Newton Art Association, Bonnar Show, New Art Center, Newton, MA.
Juror: Katherine French, Gallery Director of Catamount Arts, St. Johnsbury, VT.
2016 – New England Sculptors Association Exhibition at the Lewis Gallery, Portland Public Library, Portland, ME
2014 – Hope Lodge Rotational Art, AstraZeneca Hope Lodge Center in Boston, American Cancer Society
2014 – Concord Art Association, Members Juried 1: Painting and Sculpture
Juror: Lawrence Powers, Owner, Powers Gallery, Acton, MA
2013 – Cambridge Art Association, 12th National Prize Show
Juror: Toby Kamps, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Menil Collection, Houston, TX
2013 – Griffin Museum of Photography. Photography Atelier 17 Exhibition.
2013 – Concord Art Association. Members Juried II: Photography, Drawing, Mixed Media, Crafts and Graphics.
Jurors: Kathy Halamka & Natacha Sochat, independent curators and former NK Gallery owners.
2012 – Cambridge Art Association, 11th National Prize Show
Juror: Clara Kim, Senior Curator of Visual Arts, Walker Art Center
2012 – Exploring Dimensionality: 2 + 3, An Exhibition of Paintings by Michael Orzech & Sculpture by Betsy J. Constantine, Gleason Public Library, Carlisle, MA
2011 – Brush Gallery Members Exhibition 2011 with the New England Sculptors Association, Lowell, MA
Jurors: Martha Mayo and Jack Moynihan, Art Collectors
2011 – Selected Works from Members of the New England Sculptors Association, MA State Transportation Building, Boston
Jurors: John Michael Gray & Tim O’Connor, Co-Directors of the New England Art Education Conference
2011 – Massachusetts Artists 2011: Contemporary Work by the Artists of Massachusetts, Brush Gallery & Artists Studios, Lowell, MA
Juror: Jen Mergel, Senior Curator of Contemporary Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
2011 – Concord Art Association, Members Juried I: Painting and Sculpture
Juror: Nina Gara Bozicnik, Assistant Curator, Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, NH
2010 – Members’ Show, Brush Gallery & Artists Studios, Lowell, MA
Juror: James Veatch, UMass Lowell
2010 – Juried Student Exhibit, DeCordova Sculpture Park & Museum, Lincoln, MA