Betty Woodman
Encyclopedia
Betty Woodman is an American
artist.
Many of these traditions Woodman has experienced first-hand as she has traveled extensively, finding inspiration in cultures around the world. As recently described by American Ceramics magazine (see:http://amceram.org/BettyWoodman.html) "The dramatic and luminous effect of glazes attracted Woodman to ceramics, leading her to study at the School for American Craftsmen at Alfred University. She further developed her passion for clay when she moved to Italy, falling in love with Mediterranean art, a consequential influence for her work. Having a background in ceramics, it is easy to peg Betty Woodman as a craftsperson. However, upon taking a closer look, Woodman is hardly just that. She is an artist whose work hovers above the line of art and craft, drawing its power from both. Woodman continues to embrace the vessel form, fundamental to ceramics, which she often coalesces with enigmatic...slabs and shapes, providing her with a dynamic three-dimensional canvas. Remaining at the forefront of modernism, Woodman acknowledges Greek, Aztec and Tang civilizations, alongside Southern Baroque, American Slipware and 17th century Japanese oribe motifs, using her forms as a device to simultaneously explore the history of vessels and cultures. Betty Woodman’s work evidences a lust for life. Referencing an array of styles and cultures on one object, Woodman challenges her medium and the stigma of the vessel form with a marriage of painting, sculpture and art history.
grant in 1985, and a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship at the Bellagio Study Center, Bellagio, Italy, 1995. She has received in 2006 an honorary degree from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD University), Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa; a Doctorate in Humane Letters Honoris Causa from the University of Colorado in 2007; and an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island in 2009.
Woodman’s work has frequently been included in group exhibitions since 1968 and is part of more than fifty public collections, including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts; Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado; International Ceramic Museum, Faenza, Italy; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York; Musée des Arts Decoratifs Paris, France; Museu Nacional do Azulejo, Lisbon, Portugal; Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York; World Ceramic Center, Ichon, Korea and the Gardiner Museum, Toronto, Canada.
Her daughter, Francesca Woodman
(1958-1981), has become an influential, much exhibited and written about photographer. Her husband is the artist George Woodman
. Their son, Charles Woodman, is a video installation artist and professor.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
artist.
Work and Influences
Internationally recognized as one of today’s most important sculptors using ceramics, Betty Woodman's career began in the 1950s as a production potter with the aim of creating beautiful objects to enhance everyday life. Since then, the vase has become Woodman’s subject, product, and muse. In deconstructing and reconstructing its form, she has created an exuberant and complex body of sculpture. Its signature is its reflection of a wide range of influences and traditions and an inventive use of color. As she has written, "The centrality of the vase in my work certainly implies a global perspective on art history and production. The container is a symbol — it holds and pours all fluids, stores food and contains everything from flowers to our final remains."Many of these traditions Woodman has experienced first-hand as she has traveled extensively, finding inspiration in cultures around the world. As recently described by American Ceramics magazine (see:http://amceram.org/BettyWoodman.html) "The dramatic and luminous effect of glazes attracted Woodman to ceramics, leading her to study at the School for American Craftsmen at Alfred University. She further developed her passion for clay when she moved to Italy, falling in love with Mediterranean art, a consequential influence for her work. Having a background in ceramics, it is easy to peg Betty Woodman as a craftsperson. However, upon taking a closer look, Woodman is hardly just that. She is an artist whose work hovers above the line of art and craft, drawing its power from both. Woodman continues to embrace the vessel form, fundamental to ceramics, which she often coalesces with enigmatic...slabs and shapes, providing her with a dynamic three-dimensional canvas. Remaining at the forefront of modernism, Woodman acknowledges Greek, Aztec and Tang civilizations, alongside Southern Baroque, American Slipware and 17th century Japanese oribe motifs, using her forms as a device to simultaneously explore the history of vessels and cultures. Betty Woodman’s work evidences a lust for life. Referencing an array of styles and cultures on one object, Woodman challenges her medium and the stigma of the vessel form with a marriage of painting, sculpture and art history.
Education and Teaching Career
Woodman’s study at The School for American Craftsmen at Alfred University in Alfred, New York, was from 1948-1950. She began teaching at the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1979, and was made Professor Emeritus in 1998.Awards and Honors
Woodman's many awards and honors include a Fullbright-Hays Scholarship to Florence Italy, 1966; National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships in 1980 and 1986; a New York Foundation for the ArtsNew York Foundation for the Arts
The New York Foundation for the Arts was created in conjunction the in 1971. The organization gives grants to individual artists and writers and developing arts organizations with a mission to '.'-NYFA's Programs:...
grant in 1985, and a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship at the Bellagio Study Center, Bellagio, Italy, 1995. She has received in 2006 an honorary degree from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD University), Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa; a Doctorate in Humane Letters Honoris Causa from the University of Colorado in 2007; and an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island in 2009.
Exhibitions
Over the course of her lengthy career, Woodman has had numerous solo exhibitions at museums and galleries internationally. Most recently these include “Betty Woodman: L’allegra vitalità delle porcellane,” Museo Delle Porcellane, Palazzo Pitti, Giardino di Boboli, Florence, Italy, 2009-2010; her retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, “The Art of Betty Woodman,” 2006; as well as “Theatres of Betty Woodman” at the Museu Nacional do Azulejo, Lisbon, 2005, traveling to the Ariana Museum, Geneva, Switzerland, 2006; and begin with her first solo show, “Salt Glaze” at the Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, 1970. From 1983 to 2010 Woodman's work was exhibited regularly at Max Protetch Gallery, New York. She is now represented by Salon 94 gallery in New York.Woodman’s work has frequently been included in group exhibitions since 1968 and is part of more than fifty public collections, including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts; Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado; International Ceramic Museum, Faenza, Italy; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York; Musée des Arts Decoratifs Paris, France; Museu Nacional do Azulejo, Lisbon, Portugal; Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York; World Ceramic Center, Ichon, Korea and the Gardiner Museum, Toronto, Canada.
Critical Reception
Many critics and writers have recognized the value of Woodman’s contribution to dialogues in both ceramics and art. Her recent monograph, Betty Woodman”(New York: The Monacelli Press, 2006), produced in conjunction with her retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, includes essays by Janet Koplos, Barry Schwabsky, and Arthur Danto.Biography
Woodman currently lives and works in New York City and Antella, Italy.Her daughter, Francesca Woodman
Francesca Woodman
Francesca Woodman was an American photographer best known for her black and white pictures featuring herself and female models. Many of her photographs show young women who are nude, who are blurred , who are merging with their surroundings, or whose faces are obscured...
(1958-1981), has become an influential, much exhibited and written about photographer. Her husband is the artist George Woodman
George Woodman
George Woodman is an American ceramicist, painter, and photographer.-Biography:Woodman was born in 1932. He went to Harvard University and married Betty Woodman in 1953. After earning a master's degree in painting at the University of New Mexico, he taught painting and art criticism at the...
. Their son, Charles Woodman, is a video installation artist and professor.