Betty Woodman
{{short description|American ceramic artist}}
{{Infobox artist
| honorific_prefix =
| name =Betty Woodman
| honorific_suffix =
| image = Photo of Betty Woodman.jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Woodman, 1973
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| birth_name = Elizabeth Abrahams
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1930|05|14}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2018|01|02|1930|05|14}}
| death_place =
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates =
| nationality = American
| residence =
| education = School for American Craftsmen (Alfred University)
| alma_mater = Alfred University
| known_for = Pottery
| notable_works =
| style =
| movement =
| spouse =
| partner =
| awards =
| elected =
| patrons =
| memorials =
| website =
| module =
}}
Elizabeth Woodman (née Abrahams; May 14, 1930 – January 2, 2018) was an American ceramic artist.
Early life and education
Betty Woodman was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, to Minnie and Henry Abrahams. Her parents were progressive socialists and her mother promoted a feminist viewpoint. During seventh grade, stifled by the home economics courses to which young women were relegated at the time, she successfully fought her way into a woodshop class, wherein she learned to use a lathe.{{Cite news|last=Sandomir|first=Richard|date=2018-01-05|title=Betty Woodman, Who Spun Pottery Into Multimedia Art, Dies at 87|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/05/obituaries/betty-woodman-dies-spun-pottery-into-multimedia-art.html|access-date=2020-09-22|issn=0362-4331}} Betty started pottery classes at age 16 and immediately took to clay. She attended the School for American Craftsmen at Alfred University in New York from 1948 until 1950.
Career
Woodman began her career in the 1950s as a production potter. Her career moved from functional pottery to fresh and exuberant art culminating in a retrospective show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2006, the first such retrospective for a living, female ceramicist, and a solo show at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London in 2016 with the title Theatre of the Domestic. She was a professor of art at the University of Colorado Boulder from 1978 to 1998.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/05/obituaries/betty-woodman-dies-spun-pottery-into-multimedia-art.html|title=Betty Woodman, Who Spun Pottery Into Multimedia Art, Dies at 87|last=Sandomir|first=Richard|date=2018-01-05|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-10-22|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite book|title=Benezit Dictionary of Artists|year=2011|doi = 10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.B00400216}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/jan/17/betty-woodman-obituary|title=Betty Woodman obituary|last=Whiting|first=David|date=2018-01-17|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-10-22|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite book|title=Betty Woodman|publisher=Stedelijk Museum|year=1996|isbn=9050061117|location=Amsterdam|pages=7|oclc=37297410}}{{Cite book|title=Celebration! A History of the Visual Arts in Boulder.|editor-last=Heath|editor-first=Jennifer |publisher=Baksun Books and Art|year=2016|isbn=978-1-887997-37-9|location=Boulder, CO|pages=204}} Following her daughter's death in 1981, Woodman's work subsequently shifted, evolving from functional pottery to the more abstract, thus transforming her career. She received an honorary doctorate from CU in 2007.{{Cite web|url=http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_31570699/betty-woodman-artist-ceramics-boulder|title=Betty Woodman, renowned artist and force behind Boulder Pottery Lab, dies at 87|date=2018-01-04|website=Boulder Daily Camera|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-10}} Woodman convinced city of Boulder officials in the 1950s to fund the Pottery Lab, making it one of the first recreational pottery programs in the U.S. Her vision was to have students make pottery for fun but also develop their craft into a career. The Pottery Lab's creation resulted in around 100 kilns being constructed in the Boulder area.
Family
Betty Woodman met George Woodman in a pottery class she was teaching in Boston in 1950. They married in 1953. George Woodman was a painter and photographer. He headed the University of Colorado Boulder art department. He died in March 2017. Betty and George Woodman had two children. Their daughter, Francesca Woodman, was a photographer who died by suicide in 1981 at age 22. Their son, Charles Woodman, is an artist.
Awards and honors
- National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships (1980,1986)
- Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship at the Bellagio Study Center, Bellagio, Italy (1995)
- Fulbright-Hays Scholarship to Florence, Italy (1996)
- Doctor of Fine Arts Honors Causa from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (2006)
- Doctor of Human Letters Honoris Causa from the University of Colorado Boulder (2007){{Cite news|url=https://www.cu.edu/regents/honorary-degrees-university-medals-and-distinguished-service-awards-full-list-z#w|title=Honorary Degrees, University Medals and Distinguished Service Awards Full List A-Z|date=2014-06-23|work=University of Colorado|access-date=2018-03-07|language=en}}
- Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design (2009){{Cite web|url=http://academicaffairs.risd.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/RISD-Honorary-Degree-Recipients-_-1990-2016.pdf|title=Honorary Degree Recipients{{!}}1990-2016|access-date=March 7, 2018}}
- International Artist Award (with George Woodman) from Anderson Ranch Arts Center (2010){{Cite web |title=Past Recognition Dinner Honorees |url=https://www.andersonranch.org/donate/past-recognition-dinner-honorees/ |access-date=2025-01-09 |website=Anderson Ranch Arts Center |language=en}}
- Gold Medal for Consummate Craftmanship, American Craft Council Awards (2014){{Cite web|url=http://craftcouncil.org/magazine/article/masters-betty-woodman|title=Masters: Betty Woodman|website=craftcouncil.org|access-date=2016-05-02}}
Exhibitions
Woodman exhibited at museums and galleries in the US and internationally, including:
- 'Betty Woodman' at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1996)
- 'Betty Woodman' at the Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, MO (2002){{Cite book|title=Betty Woodman : February 16-April 14, 2002, Daum Museum of Contemporary Art|publisher=Daum Museum of Contemporary Art|year=2002|location=Sedalia, Missouri}}
- 'Theaters of Betty Woodman' at the Museu Nacional do Azulejo, Lisbon (2005) and the Musée Ariana, Geneva (2006)
- 'The Art of Betty Woodman' a retrospective exhibition of her career at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2006){{Cite web|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/press/exhibitions/2006/the-art-of-betty-woodman|title=The Art of Betty Woodman {{!}} The Metropolitan Museum of Art|website=www.metmuseum.org|access-date=2016-05-02}}
- 'Betty Woodman: Roman Fresco/Pleasures and Places' first exhibited at the American Academy in Rome (2010){{Cite web|url=https://www.aarome.org/sites/default/files/pr_en/Betty_Woodman_press_release_in_English%5B1%5D.pdf|title=Betty Woodman press release American Academy of Rome|website=American Academy of Rome|access-date=2019-09-06|archive-date=2015-03-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150317161949/http://aarome.org/sites/default/files/pr_en/Betty_Woodman_press_release_in_English%5B1%5D.pdf|url-status=dead}}
- 'Betty Woodman: Theatre of the Domestic' at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, 2016{{Cite web|url=https://www.ica.org.uk/whats-on/betty-woodman|title=Betty Woodman: Theatre of the Domestic|website=ica.org.uk|access-date=2016-05-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507035119/https://www.ica.org.uk/whats-on/betty-woodman|archive-date=2016-05-07|url-status=dead}}
Collections
Woodman's work is included in public collections, including:
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston{{Cite web|url=http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/pillow-pitcher-41242|title=Pillow Pitcher|website=Museum of Fine Arts, Boston|access-date=2016-05-02}}
- Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida. Aztec Vase 7 (2007){{Cite web |title=Aztec Vase 7 • Pérez Art Museum Miami |url=https://www.pamm.org/en/artwork/2013.14 |access-date=2023-05-30 |website=Pérez Art Museum Miami |language=en-US}}
- Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO{{Cite web|url=https://denverartmuseum.org/article/loss-pioneering-artist-betty-woodman|title=On the loss of Pioneering Artist Betty Woodman|website=Denver Art Museum}}
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York{{Cite web|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/493215|title=Betty Woodman {{!}} Deco Lake Shore {{!}} The Met|website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art, i.e. The Met Museum|access-date=2016-05-02}}
- Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris
- Museum of Modern Art, New York{{Cite web|url=http://www.moma.org/collection/artists/7051?locale=en&page=1|title=Betty Woodman {{!}} MoMA|website=The Museum of Modern Art|access-date=2016-05-02}}
- Whitney Museum of American Art, New York{{Cite web|url=http://collection.whitney.org/artist/3558/BettyWoodman|title=Whitney Museum of American Art: Betty Woodman|website=collection.whitney.org|access-date=2016-05-02}}
- National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/artist-info.25890.html|title=Artist Info|website=www.nga.gov|access-date=2016-05-02}}
- Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA{{Cite web|url=http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/87771.html?mulR=1485294791%7C1|title=Philadelphia Museum of Art - Collections Object : Diptych Vases, Orpheus|last=Art|first=Philadelphia Museum of Art|website=philamuseum.org|access-date=2016-05-02}}
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London{{Cite web|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O153556/pillow-vase-pitcher-woodman-betty|title=Pillow Vase {{!}} Woodman, Betty {{!}} V&A Search the Collections|website=collections.vam.ac.uk|access-date=2016-05-02}}
- Minneapolis Institute of Art{{Cite web|url=https://collections.artsmia.org/art/99796/cup-with-gondola-betty-woodman|title=Betty Woodman, "Cup With Gondola, 1982," Minneapolis Institute of Art|last=Woodman|first=Betty|access-date=Mar 9, 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://collections.artsmia.org/art/81030/urn-betty-woodman|title=Betty Woodman, "Urn, c. 1985," Minneapolis Institute of Art.|access-date=March 9, 2019}}
- Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) Pillow Pitcher was acquired by SAAM as part of the Renwick Gallery's 50th Anniversary Campaign.{{cite book |last1=Savig |first1=Mary |last2=Atkinson |first2=Nora |last3=Montiel |first3=Anya |title=This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World |date=2022 |publisher=Smithsonian American Art Museum |location=Washington, DC |isbn=9781913875268 |pages=228-238}}{{cite web |title=Pillow Pitcher |url=https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/pillow-pitcher-32774 |website=Smithsonian American Art Museum |access-date=9 January 2023}}
Other contributions
In the 1991 documentary Thinking Out Loud, Woodman is interviewed by curator and painter John Perreault. In 2006 the monograph, Betty Woodman, was produced in conjunction with her retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and it includes curatorial essays by Janet Koplos, Barry Schwabsky, and Arthur Danto.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1y41nwEACAAJ|title=Betty Woodman|last=Woodman|first=Betty|date=2006-01-01|publisher=Monacelli Press|isbn=9781580931687}}
References
{{Reflist}}
=Bibliography=
- The Ceramics of Betty Woodman, exhibition catalogue, Freedman Gallery, Albright College,Reading, 1986.
- Berlind, Robert: Betty Woodman: Between Sculpture and Painting, exhibition catalogue, Blanden Memorial Art Museum, Fort Dodge, Iowa, 1999.
- Danto, Arthus C/Koplos, Janet/Schwabsky, Barry: Betty Woodman, Monacelli Press, New York, 2006.
External links
- [https://15thstreetgalleryboulder.com/artists/betty-woodman Betty Woodman at 15th Street Gallery]
{{American Craft Council}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodman, Betty}}
Category:American women ceramists
Category:Ceramists from Colorado
Category:20th-century American ceramists
Category:Jewish American artists
Category:20th-century American women artists
Category:American women potters
Category:21st-century American Jews
Category:21st-century American women