#bettybusby

[osumuseumofart-blog]

Visiting Artist Workshop with Betty Busby

The July New Techniques with Paint workshop at the OSU Museum of Art, featuring Betty Busby, was my first full experience of facilitating a workshop.

 I have had a small amount of exposure to fiber arts, having grown up with a grandmother who taught me to sew and an aunt who has explored many different art mediums. This workshop gave me a deeper understanding of different approaches to fiber art. I learned so much about fabric painting and designing from Betty, Gale, and the eighteen ecstatic workshop participants.

When we were first introduced before the workshop, my initial connection with Betty was through our backgrounds in ceramics. Betty founded a custom ceramic tile manufacturing firm in Los Angeles after graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design with a Fine Arts degree in ceramics. Twenty years later, she sold her business and changed her focus to fiber arts. Betty was very encouraging to me as a young artist- sharing her experiences with how to find a way to make a living while doing what you love.

The workshop began with the participants learning how to paint their own fabric, using silk and cotton. Painting fabric begins with wetting the material and choosing to use texture materials or folds in the fabric to achieve various coloring results. Everyone was amazed to learn that Betty painted right onto the fabric. Betty demonstrated how to incorporate even more texture and color using paint sticks, ink pencils, brown paper, and texture templates. After learning the basics of fabric painting, the workshop participants were free to experiment even further and test the limits of painting fabric.

 At the beginning of the workshop, Gale Oppenheim opened with these words: “This workshop is not a place to be perfect, you can play here then go home and be perfect.” I think that is a true testament to all art practice; sometimes you have to be messy and color outside the lines in order to grow.

Megan Patterson graduated from Oklahoma State University in May, with her BFA in Studio Art. She has served as an Education Intern at the OSU Museum of Art for the past two years.